Two years ago they told you to cut your price $100 below any competitor in your market. Then, they told you to always be 98% of market price. Then, they told you to base your used car buying decisions on how many vehicle clicks you get on a car. This month they told you to base your used car buying decisions on lead history on vehicles. Sometimes vendors say it’s all about back-end gross (don’t worry about front-end). At NADA Dallas they told you it was all about focusing on average profit, not turn. This month, it’s all about mandatory turn. Analytics, AI, thought leaders, you name it. And now NADA 2024 is around the corner and they have a new Profit Velocity Power Closer Dominator CRM Pro coming out – have you seen it?
Stop the insanity! If only their products were as good as their marketing, your dealership would run itself. Vendors don’t run your store. Your team does. No matter your product mix or strategy, it’s your team engaging customers daily that drives your success.
Used car dealing at its core is still simple:
- Figure out the most popular vehicles for your market and buy as many as you can.
- Price them as competitively and train your staff to support price not cut price.
- Focus on proper trade evaluation and devaluation. This is the single most important process in the dealership.
- Reduce vendor expense and spend more on advertising to attract qualified car buyers to your physical and virtual lot.
Yes, powerful software suites like FastBook, CompetitionView, DMS Profit, or our trade devaluator can help guide you, but it is up to your team to make good decisions and execute on them. We find that our most profitable dealers consistently focus on simplifying their processes so they can scale them. They don’t get scattered by vendor hype. They focus on refining their core disciplines. You should too.