autovantaofficial said:

will go with the agency idea, but to beat saturation, will throw in a bunch of options and work around a monthly subscription plan.

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Biz launch ideas.
Get a repeatable model roughed out, then crawl, walk, run.

Crawl: I had a merchandising concept, found a dealer that believed in me, used their business to launch our product, measured and improved our product over the next 50 weeks or so.
Walk: The evidence gathered opened up my next dealer, and this dealer group brought on new challenges which created new improvements.
Run: You'll be a very wize player when you get here. You'll have discovered how OEMs dominate the industry, and, that frustrated dealer may become your model client.

My $0.02. Find a pilot store, you will learn mountains of new info, then, Lather, Rinse, Repeat

Alex Snyder said:

Nothing has been more enlightening in my career than becoming a customer.

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Richie K said:

After reading this thread, I decided to make a change of order to pics on a few vehicles to see what happens. I'm trying to track VDPs on the ones that I changed. Maybe that'll be in vain, but it's worth a shot.

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Richie, I totally get your game plan, you want to experiment and you want data to validate. I am not a data scientist, but beware the ultra-small data set.

George Nenni said:

I reviewed some Google Analytics events data, where they were tracking the percentage of shoppers that made it to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. photo, in a 24-photo carousel, and as expected it was a bell-shaped curve, with the top of the bell being photo #8-10.

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Richie, George Nenni has the large dataset you desire. George is an UNBIASED authentic GA4 analyst that has hundreds of dealers and he sees enormous amounts of data.

SUMMARY: Merchandising is like being a fisherman. George Nenni data shows the majority of your VDP viewers will see pics 1-10, then click back to the SRP (if you're lucky!). Remember, the average time spent shopping on your site, 2-4 mins is not a long time. You need to set that VDP hook fast! Don't pollute the VDP with DEALER FLUFF, sell the unique benefits for that VIN!

p.s. You have thousands of unique car shoppers on your SRP/VPS each month and your store closes less that 2% of all of them. Be like Alex Snyder, pick a new ride and go car shopping with a serious vigor.

with Clint.

It is also surprising to see the bigger technology players implement changes that are obviously in response to the FTC rules but have not done it all the way. All are missing the total amount financed and continue to stick dealer fees (processing fee) into a disclaimer at the footer of the dealership website. Those are the two biggest items the FTC wants to make clearer.

Reach out to a Motorsports store in your area. Ask them who they use for their CRM. That will be a good starting point. The CRM company would likely tell you how they handle decoding.

I use the NHTSA Vin Decoder for my CRM. I don't know if they handle motorsports as well. I would think maybe street bikes but don't know on ATV or UTV.

This is a link to their api documentation. One of those might work for you.


Good luck.

So this is interesting.

Your warranty is very confusing. If a light bulb burns out your warranty fixes it. If a transmission blows up, your warranty does not fix it. The warranty business is complex and regulated. What you are proposing will absolutely not pass the smell test with the Dept of Insurance.

The agency idea is good, but also saturated. There some good ones looking for employees. Arbor Advertising might be a good place to learn your way around.

That is really cool. It seems like there are 2 camps regarding the new CARS rule.

One group has just completely disregarded it and decided to just take it up another notch with the deceptive pricing.
The other group is taking it quite seriously. There is a dealer group in our area that has eliminated their Doc Fee.

Carsten said:

For some reason I look at a lot of 4 Runner listings and lots either try to hide that it's a RWD or just don't know that I'm wanting to see if it's a 4x4.

4WD it would make lots of sense to make sure that it's in the slider of images.

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Carsten,
It's an industry wide epidemic... and velocity dealers think the only way to turn iron is to flush profits down the drain.

"Velocity Detox" anyone?

Thanks, Gavin! We like to turn lemons into lemonade (spiked with vodka ) at FRIKINtech.

plus, @Alex Snyder has a solar array onhis home, so his EV is powered by sunshine.

Whatever.

flosho said:

Of all the things dealerships spend superfluous monies on, hiring someone that cares and wants to take pride in their photos and put the best product forward seems like a fair return on investment.

No photobooth needed. In fact, overcast skies or even the right photography equipment in the sun, can make quality photos and many times way better than any dealership's photobooth shoot.

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Brilliant.
#BootsOnTheGround

Matteon said:

Are you suggesting a commission-only structure without a draw? Would it be better to do a flat number instead of a 25% commission for a used car store?

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I am suggesting commission only structure. Draw is still commission only.

I would never do a flat. I want my sales staff fighting for gross, just like me.

I am not suggesting that a flat plus percentage is a bad thing if that is what you are more comfortable with. I am absolutely suggesting that these 4 tiered, retro this and that, comm plus flat are far too counterproductive. They also create a disconnect between ownership and sales. Say you have a 3 or 4 tiered flat plus commission plan, last day of the month, and a salesperson needs one more deal to hit the top tier that will retro back. That single deal will make the salesperson an extra $2,650 for the month. That single deal will cost the owner $2,650 plus the commission on the vehicle being sold. Do you REALLY want that deal?

I am a Used Car Dealer.

Without going into a bunch of questions, I will give you my general feeling about sales pay plans.

Simple is better. If I ask someone to explain their pay plan, and the first thing they do is reach for a pen and something to write on......bad sign. Too complicated.

$500 Pack.
All expenses are added to the unit including fuel.
25% Commission up to 30% based upon tenure.
$200 Minimum Commission per unit.
Annual Guarantee of $52K which is decent money where I am. I have never had to pay anything at year end.
Every once in awhile I will put a Minimum Commission on a unit that is stuck in inventory.

To me, it is very important that everyone have the same overall goal. My goal is Gross Profit. Gross Profit pays the bills. Volume doesn't. I get that we can deep dive into the holding cost and velocity conversation. While I understand these concepts, I choose to care more about Gross Profit.

Jon Singo said:

I've been considering the BZ4X for the same reason. It's not a great EV but the employee lease deal is almost too good to pass up. Back and forth to work on the cheap!

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I went ahead and did it. The dealer did me a solid, making it impossible to turn the deal down. These guys have been selling 3 to 5 Ariyas per day since advertising this one-pay lease on Craigslist and in 1 local Marketplace group on Facebook. When he told me that, my jaw hit the floor. The day I contracted, two couples were back, each leasing a second one.

The styling isn't my favorite on a lot of these EVs. I'm not a fan of the wheels on the Ariya. I also cannot get on board with EVs as planet savers and will continue to laugh at the people who ignore all the issues of battery production and disposal and how energy pollution is created while they pompously virtue signal in blissful ignorance.

However, I can now buy in on the benefits of driving an EV. If this is the early days of development, I am very excited about the future of blended fuel sources (hybrids, for example). The idea of electric torque and combustion horsepower does make me a bit giddy for some giant tires on a massive pickup truck and getting 30+ MPG. Or running a 160 MPH sports car 600 miles on one tank of fuel with a 3-second 0-60 time.

The Ariya is our third car. It will just be an errand car and kid mover on the weekdays. Our other vehicles are gas guzzlers that are fun and good to look at. Those cars bring us joy! Although we have had three cars for years, this is the first time we have a purpose-owned one that is just for around town. This may be a formula we stick with. Once this Ariya lease is up in 18th months we'll probably consider another EV in that role... maybe another Ariya if the deal is still good.

KiwiDan said:

Hey Alex, is it dataone.org that you refer to? I’m looking for a vin data solution to feed into an app I’ve built. Vehicle spec data doesn’t seem to come up when I search their site. Can you point me to further info on their vehicle data?

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We use them at FRIKINtech. We started with Chrome, but found it to be antiquated for our newer technologies. DataOne is much easier to scale with. Enjoy!

pedrohfontoura said:

Hey guys, I've been working with a dealership over in Morrisville, PA for a little while now, and I decided to take a peak into their marketing strategy to find the reason why we were having such a low walk in traffic.

Their location is extremely hidden & it's very unusual to have someone come in from just seeing our lot.

I understand it's very difficult to handle finances, manage a team, bills, inventory & etc so the last thing they want to do is handle marketing

So the problem was clear, we didn't have a good location so how would we bring more clients in?

I decided to take matters into my own hands and basically optimized their online presence to bring more people and get more appointments. And shockingly it was a great success!

We started this project late in January and the dealership went from selling 12 cars/mo to 26 in February!!

Therefore, I see many dealerships trying to do their best to make sure they are being seen and honestly the logical answer is to just get your business in front of more people.

I can share how I've done this in a video or a different thread but I was curious to know if any of you guys have considered even looking into this?

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How did you do in March. MTD for April.

Good job doubling sales......during the biggest month of the year for used car dealers. I am interested in seeing if your client is sustaining that level of success.

Carsten said:

Congrats on helping your technology challenged dealership!

Not sure what to have considered into this.

Why don't you share and I'm sure people will give you feedback.

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His post is a little bit misleading. He is a vendor. Boost Your Sales By 30% | Evolve Groupe

joe.pistell said:

@Alex Snyder, you just spent MONTHS car shopping with your wife, nothing is more valuable than wearing that hat.

Thoughts?

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Nothing has been more enlightening in my career than becoming a customer. I look back at the stupid shit I did as a dealer in the name of making the process easier for my coworkers without regard to the customer experience and cringe. Every time I walk into a dealership, the signs of this approach blaze like fire. I see it everywhere. It is apparent on websites, too.

Let me be a little more constructive around online merchandising.

Photos are key. Period. End of story. Autotrader, Cars.com, and CarGurus work when you have good photos of NEW and used cars. No photo, no click. I will click on a VDP without a photo when I'm super low in the funnel. That means I have made a decision that I am going to visit your dealership in person and I'm trying to determine what OTHER vehicles you have for me to look at. You already hooked me with a car that had decent photos.

The part about decent photos is the thumbnail needs to be appealing in the sea of cars within a VLP. A 3/4 shot with the wheel turned is my preference. When it is a side profile or direct front view my scanning is disrupted and I find that annoying. I try not to reward that behavior by skipping past it. I don't like being annoyed, especially when I'm enjoying the hunt for my next car!

Interior photos! Take more interior shots. I just bought 2 cars and am still hunting for my unicorn "overlander." I'm always wanting to see the underside of the used car for any rust, what is the condition of all the seats (including a third row), what is the condition of the steering wheel, what buttons are on the car help me understand what package or options the car has.

What you should consider in vehicle photography:

• VIN explosions and data sources are different from one website to another. Autotrader may use Chrome as a vehicle decoder while another site will use DataOne. Those companies view data differently and how they give it back to the website tech needs to be interpreted. Interpretations can vary significantly between CarGurus and Cars.com or Dealer.com and DealerInspire. At the end of the day, those interpretations are made by humans with engineering jobs. They may have been on a deadline... who knows. The point is, you cannot rely on data to give a shopper any confidence. Photos sell your car for you.
• Your online shopper is an expert. Assume they have looked at dozens of cars online and know how to spot options and packages. By taking better photos of buttons you'll be helping these people in a big way. They will appreciate it! Yes, they will become dumb when they become a physical shopper.
• Take photos of the dash buttons on the left side of the steering wheel - these are missed way too often.
• Take photos of the buttons on the roof and if there are any in the second row (like around a DVD player screen)
• Take multiple photos of the center stack to include the radio, nav screen, climate control, seat climate control, center shifter, all the way to the center console.
• Always take a photo of the dash with the car on showing the miles

These bullets may sound like a lot, but I'm only talking about a few more interior images here. Try it, you'll find this ask isn't a big process change.

George Nenni said:

I've run GA4 reporting for @joe.pistell for a few years now, and when he made merchandising improvements, injecting interior photos early, adding text to explain options, his conversion rate quickly went to 2-3X our conversion rate benchmark (math=forms, calls, chats divided by sessions). Tough to argue against these results.

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TY George,
I have 6 stores in beta.

• 1 store broke a 10 year sales record (120 months of sales)
• 3 other stores set Best Month Ever.

In my circles, March was a strong used car month, but, I like what I am seeing... I may be onto something I need 5 more dealers to join in the beta and help me validate this. Anyone game?

Joe Pistell
Founder, AutoMagic Labs
[email protected]
JC AutoMagic Inc | Automotive Dealership Analytics

The internet shopping process for real estate shopping is very similar to used cars.
I like the strategy of KiwiDan's choreography.

KiwiDan said:

1. The hook
- 2 external (front and rear 3/4)
- 2 internal ( wide angle dash and front seats)
- 1-3 high value features

2. External
A sequence of all wide angle external photos with key close shots

3. Internal
A sequence of wide angle internal photos with key close ups

4. The rest
All other close up photos

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flosho said:

Our current setup is cumbersome in that we can receive text messages through our website and the tracking numbers we use on craigslist/facebook, but I have to manually log into our website's CRM tool and forward those texts to the CRM we actually use. It will send them in the proper format, but it doesn't do it automatically.

I'm looking for a company that does call tracking and will take any incoming phone call and forward to our main dealer line or route directly to our sales ring group and the text messages will be forwarded in ADF format to the CRM as a lead.

Does it exist? Is there a better option without switching CRM/website providers

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We use TotalCX/DriveCentric but most trackers like CallRevu and CarWars have this function as well with most major CRMs.

@Alex Snyder, you just spent MONTHS car shopping with your wife, nothing is more valuable than wearing that hat.

Thoughts?