All Things Used Cars was on fire with the excitement of NADA starting later in the morning. Drawing from his belief that the dealer with the right inventory wins, David Long lept into today's conversation possessed by one question:
Discussion and friendly debate fell within three broader topics.
Ben Hadley started by asking: Are we focusing on finding the right cars when we should focus on finding the right customer?
Companies like Carvana have collapsed many aspects of doing business under their roof, meaning they generate revenue from each sale element. The vehicles fluctuate, but the customer segments do not. Are we offering the services our top customer segments need to buy from us easier?
Randy Brenckman shared he has been tracking financing history by monthly payment and then looking for inventory that would fall into that monthly payment range.
But Darrell Steed cautioned against focusing too hard on a single segment as those can dry up, leaving you with no experience to use in other customer bases. Ben Hadly suggested treating your business like a stock portfolio, allowing a high-risk, high-reward R&D team to seek the next best step constantly.
There is a driver for every car, Kyle Mountsier said, adding a marketing team can find the people for almost any car you have, making up for a buying team facing slim pickings.
"Running a dealership is a series of short-term business models. Some of which last 53 years." - Randy Brenckman
The room agreed it can be a trap to rely on what you have sold in the past as your only data. Brian Kramer suggested determining your reverse risk by tracking sales history against the market at the time of the deal can be a complete data point.
Scott Coffey also shared a data point collected by knowing what vehicles customers are clicking on your site. History tells you what people want, but real-time click awareness tells you what customers in your area are interested in right now. Tools like Auto Trader will provide such data.
But of course, no single data point can give you a complete story. You can find what it indicates by collecting and comparing data, not just what it says.
"The right cars will be budget-driven and segment-driven." - Jasen Rice
Diego Vargas said the culture of people first has to start with leadership. If the leaders plan, execute, communicate, and commit to a strategy, the team will too.
Darrell said if your culture is correct, you can ask your people what cars they need to sell, and they will tell you. David disagreed with that being a full answer but agreed input has a place in the data set.
Morgan Salisbury shared her team's weight on making their process simplified, with Brian Kramer praising her work and adding that if the process is too complex, the team will abandon it.
"Simplification is key to execution." - Brian Kramer
The conversation ended with a lot to think about and steps to take. Studying the customers is essential. What tools do you have to begin doing so?
Knowing the market history makes learning your sales history pay. Do you know your top ten customers? Your top segment? The most popular monthly payment of your cars?
Where the leaders go, so go the people. Do you have a plan? Are you committed to that plan? Can you clearly explain that plan to someone who has never sold a car?
These questions should be recurring in our minds and causing us to talk with our peers and partners in the industry as we seek to future-proof ourselves.