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software alone does not tell the whole story. Market prices MERCHANDISE WITH TRANSPARENCY
are aggregate and do not include every detail about what
makes one piece of inventory more valuable than another. Consumers want to complete more of the car-buying process
With so much technology today, sometimes it isn’t easy to at home, which means they want more information upfront
properly value one car from the next. to help make a decision. According to the Capital One 2023
Car Buying Outlook survey, only 21 percent of consumers
Working out the true value of a vehicle requires the use of believe the car buying process is very or fully transparent,
the original factory window sticker data. Which features and versus 68 percent of dealership principals and employees.
packages are included on a particular vehicle? Does it have Dealers need to close this gap. And you do this through
upgraded technology? Managers have long used this data transparency and making the information consumers require
to assess vehicle value, but historically this data has been easily available to make a buying decision.
challenging to obtain or access, especially at an auction.
The more data you provide, the more car shoppers will trust
Fortunately, it is now possible to access window sticker data you, and the more sales you will make. If they have to surf
from your inventory management software app on your the internet to find information about your car, they will
smartphone. This eliminates the need to log in to another soon land on your competitor’s website. You must captivate
system, download PDFs from the internet or call staff from and engage today’s shoppers – or – risk losing the deal.
remote locations. So, managers can easily access window You don’t have to reveal how much you paid for a vehicle,
stickers to calculate offers rapidly and confidently so that but being transparent about dealer add-ons, interest rates
you can obtain more vehicles at the right price, setting you and other fees helps alleviate typical customer obstacles to
up to make a healthy margin. buying.

IMPROVE RECONDITIONING Additionally, try automating touchpoints with consumers.
For example, what is the automated lead response when
According to J.D. Power, the average number of days it takes you receive a lead? Instead of telling a car shopper they
for used vehicles to sell at franchise dealerships is 42 days. have to wait and talk to a salesperson, set up an automated
Some factors affecting this time lag, such as transit times, response to include a complete digital portfolio of their
are largely out of the dealer’s control. vehicle of interest; this includes window sticker data, service
recon records, CarFax, Google reviews of your dealership,
The recon process has a huge impact on how long a vehicle links to value proposition videos, and other information that
is at the dealership, and this process is firmly within the a car shopper can’t get from the vehicle display page (VDP).
dealer’s control. Many dealers don’t track recon as closely, Open rates on these automated emails are as high as 70
or their methods are outdated and inaccurate. I recently percent.
worked with a dealership that took up to 21 days to get
their vehicles fully retail ready. This causes great cost and Another automation that increases customer engagement is
loss. Ideally, once a vehicle is received at the dealership, the price change alerts. When a customer record is associated
recon process should take no longer than five to seven days. with a vehicle of interest, and there are price changes on
that vehicle, an email is automatically sent to the customer,
Digitizing the process and integrating recon information alerting them of a price change. Salespeople have too
with your CRM is an effective fix for this problem because much going on to remember to do these little things, and
you can’t fix what you can’t measure, and you can’t measure automation is a great way to keep customers engaged.
what you can’t see. Visibility from within the existing
systems that your staff uses makes it easier for managers to While most dealers are prepared to accept less gross profit
hold service staff accountable for deadlines. per used vehicle sold, it doesn’t mean that your dealership
has to. Fight to keep every dollar of gross, using technology
Additionally, the CRM is where salespeople, BDC agents and to streamline your acquisition, recon and merchandising
sales managers live for a good part of their day. Providing strategies. n
insight into the recon process from within the CRM allows
your sales team to see which vehicles have been received and Josh DeYoung currently serves as vice president of sales at
where they are in the recon process. Keeping salespeople Velocity Automotive. Josh deeply understands industry trends,
in the recon loop further helps accelerate the sales process dealer operations, customer preferences and competitor
because they can estimate when a vehicle will be ready for activity. He is results-driven with a proven track record in
retail and set appointments with interested customers. leading high-performing sales teams.

MSIADA MISSISSIPPI DEALER Q2 2023 | 5
MSIAD A MISSISSIPPI DEALER Q2 2023 | 5