Brad Rome, President
Expanding the business
Brad Rome, President
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Canadian Black Book is moving past the days of the little black book and towards expanding its business and growing its partnerships. “We do produce the book, but it’s getting smaller and smaller all the time,” said Brad Rome, President of CBB. “Everybody wants to do everything digitally now.”
Rome said CBB has really changed things up in the last year. In 2018, the company re-launched their consumer website to enhance the consumer experience and make changes to their listings — specifically to the design, to make it more attractive and easier to navigate. “Our B2B product called CBB Connect was all redone and we’re constantly innovating with that product, in terms of new enhancements and interfaces,” said Rome.
Whether users choose to access the product on their smartphone or their desktop, they can have the same vehicles appraised on either device seamlessly. The website has also been described as more responsive to ensure users are able to benefit from the best possible experience.
“The other thing too is the partnerships that we have: they’re integrating our data into their products to help enhance the experience for dealers as well — to help dealers get the information they need to to get the deal done,” said Rome. “This has really worked out well. We’re very fortunate to have such great partners throughout the entire business.”
The NADA Show provided CBB team members with the opportunity to connect with dealers and partners, as the company actively seeks to expand the business by creating bigger partnerships. “That’s where we’re heading next,” said Rome.
As for the changing automotive landscape and a lower sales forecast, Rome praised dealers for their resilience to change. With so much on the horizon, including electric cars, autonomous vehicles, car-sharing and e-commerce, Rome said that as long as dealers can adapt to change, they will do well.
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