IN THE FIRST OF A TWO PART SERIES, CANADIAN AUTO DEALER TAKES A LOOK AT SOME OF THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN AUTO RETAILING, DURING THE BIGGEST INDUSTRY CONVENTION OF THE YEAR
This year’s NADA Convention and Expo, held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Centre in New Orleans, La. was a busy one.
The show itself was busy with both dealers and vendors noticing considerable action and interest on the show floor — a good indicator if any, that the industry is leaving the dark days of 2008-09 even further behind. Canadian auto dealer was there in full force and we had a chance to chat with a number of exhibitors. We asked them about the interest they saw at this year’s NADA Convention; some of the new products and services they’re introducing as well as their views on the present and future of auto retailing.
Here’s some feedback from the show floor:
RICHARD PERRY
Global Repair Product Manager, Vehicle Service Group
“In the collision business today it’s about saving time and generating revenue for both the technicians and the dealership. In response to the growing demand for repairing aluminum, we’ve come out with a new Elektron MultiTool Aluminum Dent Repair Station that allows the technician to repair aluminum outer panels. We provide a stud gun and all the tools necessary because you need to have a clean room set aside for aluminum so there is no cross-contamination. Our new pulse synergic welders allow technicians to weld aluminum without having to make adjustments themselves. When you adjust current or thickness of the metal, everything is going to adjust accordingly. The current and wire speed is already set. Additionally, a technician can set up their own program and save it, so the welder is set up for that individual, no matter which vehicle they happen to be working on in the shop. We try to keep it simple and user friendly so the technician can repair the vehicle properly and save time doing it.”
BOB QUIRION
President and CEO, DealerMine Inc.
“We’re a full-service 360 CRM that specializes in fixed operations. We’re able to provide equity mining, vehicle matching and we develop outsourced business development centres. The uniqueness we have is the one-on-one relationship in our BDC. We were built from within the dealership and decided to create a product that would cultivate the dealer’s database and bring customers to the service drive. In the past it was the business office that delivered the greatest profit per square footage in the dealership, today it’s the BDC. A successful BDC continuously builds a relationship with the customer and creates longevity and retention for the dealership. It’s a proven process (we’ve been doing it for 15 years) and we’re now seeing it become more and more prevalent, especially in the U.S.”
MICHAEL MCCARTHY
General Manager, Canada, Dealertrack Technologies
“This year’s NADA Convention and Expo has been a great place to showcase the spectrum of products we have to offer, both for the U.S. and Canadian markets. We’re hearing some interesting things from dealers. Specific to Canada we see so many different dealers that are using our various solutions from DMS to inventory. It impressed upon me the opportunity we have, since the greatest benefit comes when our dealer customers are able to use multiple solutions, because it gives them the opportunity, as well as the benefit and power out of the integration we can provide them. Our products are continuing to evolve and a lot of the innovation you’ll see coming is related to mobile. This is becoming an ever more important aspect for Canadian dealers and it is something we are embedding in a number of our solutions.”
MIKE MCKINNEY
Regional Vice-President, East Region, Manheim Auctions
“We’re excited to be here not only for Manheim but for the whole group including Autotrader.com and vAuto. NADA is a great opportunity to connect with our customers, to spend some time with them and gain real feedback. Related to Canada, we are very excited about the opportunities we have. One is our footprint. Through a partnership with Source Auto Auction in Edmonton, Alta., we have expanded into Western Canada and have all of the Manheim technology and services available at that location. We are also making investments in personnel and leadership with new Canada specific roles to lead our national commercial and dealer teams. Although physical auctions will remain a major part of the business, we’re seeing a growing trend among those that want to do things their way, whether it’s a mobile sale that comes through their town or searching for inventory online. Currently, online transactions represent about 25 per cent of our business. We see it growing but not eclipsing the physical auction — that’s an event process and it’s something people get really excited about.”
TODD SMITH
CEO, ActivEngage
I love coming to NADA and getting a handle on the pulse of what dealers are doing — how they are trying to improve their business and how they are trying to connect between the showroom and the digital world. In terms of technology, although there hasn’t been a great deal that’s truly new this year, what we are seeing is deeper integration through partnerships. Things are becoming more tied together and that’s good for the industry. One of the things we have tried to do is to continue to bridge that gap between the showroom and the virtual dealership. When we first started in 2007 we were often asked what live chat was and why it was needed. Today, we’re converting around 80 per cent of all live chats into leads for our dealer customers so that means we’ve collected an email, a phone number and have a conversation attached. Having that instant connectivity whether via mobile, tablet or desktop is a powerful way for consumers to reach out to the dealership and have a great conversation. Ultimately, we want to deliver a very powerful, satisfying experience for the customer, which in turn rewards the dealership.”
RANDY PEEK
CEO and Founder, Final Coat Inc.
We’re showing dealers that as a Canadian company, we’ve got technology that can help them in the F&I department with our corrosion module and also our full protection package. What we’ve been seeing is that dealers are looking for ways to increase F&I revenue and one approach is to make sure your portfolio is full. Today, dealers are taking a closer look at protection products and they need to — it is the highest grossing product in the store. By moving from a “yes/no” scenario to an “either/or” for a protection package in the F&I office, dealers are finding greater penetration rates and higher prices. If you have the right product and your people are able to sell it with confidence, you’re going to see that higher penetration and as a result, higher revenue and higher profits. We’re also seeing a similar trend in export markets. We are looking at a global strategy for our product and in Europe and Asia there is a calling for products like this to help dealers get over the fact that new car margins are shrinking. Dealers are looking for additional revenue so that provides a great opportunity for us in export markets.”
MIKE MAZGAY
Director, Fleet and Remarketing, SiriusXM Canada Inc.
“At NADA we’ve been showcasing our pre-owned program which was initially rolled out last February. The SiriusXM new car program has been going well with the OEMs but we figured the next evolution in the auto industry was to come up with a pre-owned program that has the same delivery process, but for used vehicles. When a dealer does their part and provides an exceptional delivery experience, the customer knows they have our product in the vehicle and we get a lot better conversion — our ultimate goal is to have self-paying subscribers. As vehicle infotainment grows, our product enhances a dealership’s ability to sell their vehicles. We look at ourselves as a partner to both the OEMs and the dealers — we are always trying to add value by providing the tools dealers need. We are currently working on a program for dealerships that will offer a trial subscription to their service customers. It is essentially a thank you from the dealer for choosing their store and will be positioned as another value added feature. We are looking toward the end of this calendar year to have the program up and running.”
ALEXI VENNERI
Co-Founder and CEO, Digital Air Strike
“We find this is a great event for us. We now have about 2,200 dealers we work with including dealers in Canada and this is a great opportunity to connect with them. We are really pleased with a number of new partnerships we have, including one with Microsoft. We can provide dealers with real time alerts — everything from social media comments to immediate feedback once somebody fills out a survey. It is a great partnership for us and we began rolling it out at NADA. We are also partnering with a number of review sites and that is exciting — so much so that they are looking at our survey content and in some cases prompting customers to take that feedback and automatically generate a public review without the customer needing to take that extra step and go to that specific review site. We do a twice yearly study where we survey random car buyers and ask them whether they use review sites or social media in the buying process and if it will impact which dealership they will visit. Our most recent study found that for the first time, consumers are valuing public content from other consumers more than what dealers are saying about themselves on their own websites. It’s no longer the case of should you be in social media but how you are going to be there and leverage this very powerful medium.”
