Henry Day Ford
Finalizing the previous month quicker
We have been attempting to reduce the amount of days that it takes to finalize our previous month and get the monthly statement done. We are trying to get it to 5 days or less. Our store normally takes 10 days or so to close out the month, so we are quite a ways away from the goal. The reason it takes us so long to close out the month is that it takes F & I until the 3rd of the month to finish up all deals. It then takes the accounting office a few days to post & cap all the deals. Finally, it takes our controller and GM about 2 days to do the statement. It is usually the 10th-11th of the following month until we see the statement from the previous month.
I feel like we take way too long to close out the previous month and I know there is quite a bit of area to improve. One thing we are big about, is not having to many deals that rollover from the previous month. Do we need to stop caring about the rollovers and start setting some deadlines? I would love to know what works for other stores. What is your guys' thoughts? Do your stores have a process for closing out the month? Or do other stores even care about it?
Henry Day Ford
Finalizing the previous month quicker
We have been attempting to reduce the amount of days that it takes to finalize our previous month and get the monthly statement done. We are trying to get it to 5 days or less. Our store normally takes 10 days or so to close out the month, so we are quite a ways away from the goal. The reason it takes us so long to close out the month is that it takes F & I until the 3rd of the month to finish up all deals. It then takes the accounting office a few days to post & cap all the deals. Finally, it takes our controller and GM about 2 days to do the statement. It is usually the 10th-11th of the following month until we see the statement from the previous month.
I feel like we take way too long to close out the previous month and I know there is quite a bit of area to improve. One thing we are big about, is not having to many deals that rollover from the previous month. Do we need to stop caring about the rollovers and start setting some deadlines? I would love to know what works for other stores. What is your guys' thoughts? Do your stores have a process for closing out the month? Or do other stores even care about it?
2 Comments
Orem Mazda
Hey Bryant, This was a biggie for me. I always believed that if you spend too much time working on the previous month, the next month gets away from you. Put deadlines in place. During the month deals shouldn't be in F&I longer than 48 hrs. That way, the only deals they are working at month end are the ones sold the prior day and that day. When a deal is in F&I longer than 48 hours, diminished commissions start to kick in. Have month end parties and bring in dinner for Admin personnel to "Stay until it's done." I always had the month closed and the statement submitted to the OEM by the 3rd, many times by the 2nd. It can be done, but it takes a dialed in process and a lot of teamwork.
Auto/Mate Dealerships Systems
When I was in the store sales had a day and a half from the last day of the month to get all the deals to the accounting office, now if the last day fell on a Saturday then they had til Tuesday at noon. One other thing to look at is there a problem with process in the DMS are they using an system that makes things harder than it should be.
Henry Day Ford
Creative spiff program
We are putting together a couple of sales this summer and are kicking around a few ideas for spiff programs for the guys. We are a pretty high spiffing store and we have usually done some pretty cool spiff programs in the past. I feel like bled most of our spiff programs to death and we are struggling to come up with a new one.
I thought I would throw this post up and see if anybody has any recommendations that has been both exciting for the salespeople and helped sell cars. Anybody have any ideas???
1 Comment
Vail Resorts Retail
Hi, I am newer to this site and am looking for ideas for spiffing your employees that you have already used. I am trying to come up with a program for my 12 stores. we have had programs that have just not worked. I am also newer to the company, so i am trying to find ideas that will stick. Thank you! Kevin
Henry Day Ford
Creative spiff program
We are putting together a couple of sales this summer and are kicking around a few ideas for spiff programs for the guys. We are a pretty high spiffing store and we have usually done some pretty cool spiff programs in the past. I feel like bled most of our spiff programs to death and we are struggling to come up with a new one.
I thought I would throw this post up and see if anybody has any recommendations that has been both exciting for the salespeople and helped sell cars. Anybody have any ideas???
1 Comment
Vail Resorts Retail
Hi, I am newer to this site and am looking for ideas for spiffing your employees that you have already used. I am trying to come up with a program for my 12 stores. we have had programs that have just not worked. I am also newer to the company, so i am trying to find ideas that will stick. Thank you! Kevin
Henry Day Ford
Electronic contracting
Our dealership is a little behind the times when it comes to how we contract customers and get those contracts to the bank. We currently sign up our customers on a bank contract that gets mailed to the bank. The only lender that we currently do electronic contracting through is Ford motor credit.
We would like to get set up with other banks/credit unions and make it to where we can electronically contract our customers and get funded faster. I was just wanting to get some pointers from dealers that are do well with this before I start making some changes. Is there a dms that works better than others in terms of pushing the customer's information? Is route one or dealertrack better? Are some lenders not even set up to do electronic contracting and I would be chasing my tail? Please let me know your thoughts.
No Comments
Henry Day Ford
Electronic contracting
Our dealership is a little behind the times when it comes to how we contract customers and get those contracts to the bank. We currently sign up our customers on a bank contract that gets mailed to the bank. The only lender that we currently do electronic contracting through is Ford motor credit.
We would like to get set up with other banks/credit unions and make it to where we can electronically contract our customers and get funded faster. I was just wanting to get some pointers from dealers that are do well with this before I start making some changes. Is there a dms that works better than others in terms of pushing the customer's information? Is route one or dealertrack better? Are some lenders not even set up to do electronic contracting and I would be chasing my tail? Please let me know your thoughts.
No Comments
Henry Day Ford
Used car acquisition
We are directing our efforts to improve on acquiring used vehicles. We had a meeting about it where we all came with our top 3 ideas on where we focus. Some of our ideas are the following:
-Staff a salesperson every morning in the service drive and work the service drive better. Make sure there are processes in place to where we can give them bids on the vehicle and convince them to trade their car in.
-Pay our salespeople a spiff to look online and try to attract private party sellers to the dealership to sell us their car.
-Get our used car manager to network better with other dealers and wholesellers in an effort to buy more cars from them.
-Be willing to "stretch" more on a trade-in to make the deal and get their trade. Not to the point where we will be buried in the trade though.
-Establish a campaign in our crm to where salespeople can contact customers with vehicles between x miles to x miles to come in and trade-in their car.
We had some other ideas but I would say those 5 are our best. My question that I wanted to throw out is whether or not your dealership has tried some or all of these and what has the results been with each? What is the most effective way that your dealership acquires used inventory outside of the auctions or trade-ins?
1 Comment
ECC
It was a time when having a car was a luxury. It was not known back then that in the future people have multiple cars. With the boom of the automotive sector, used cars have played a vital role in transportation solutions. We can choose from a variety of models, old or new, classic or modern from even online websites like http://www.automotix.net/carlocator.html which bring in vehicles from all over the country at affordable prices.
Henry Day Ford
Used car acquisition
We are directing our efforts to improve on acquiring used vehicles. We had a meeting about it where we all came with our top 3 ideas on where we focus. Some of our ideas are the following:
-Staff a salesperson every morning in the service drive and work the service drive better. Make sure there are processes in place to where we can give them bids on the vehicle and convince them to trade their car in.
-Pay our salespeople a spiff to look online and try to attract private party sellers to the dealership to sell us their car.
-Get our used car manager to network better with other dealers and wholesellers in an effort to buy more cars from them.
-Be willing to "stretch" more on a trade-in to make the deal and get their trade. Not to the point where we will be buried in the trade though.
-Establish a campaign in our crm to where salespeople can contact customers with vehicles between x miles to x miles to come in and trade-in their car.
We had some other ideas but I would say those 5 are our best. My question that I wanted to throw out is whether or not your dealership has tried some or all of these and what has the results been with each? What is the most effective way that your dealership acquires used inventory outside of the auctions or trade-ins?
1 Comment
ECC
It was a time when having a car was a luxury. It was not known back then that in the future people have multiple cars. With the boom of the automotive sector, used cars have played a vital role in transportation solutions. We can choose from a variety of models, old or new, classic or modern from even online websites like http://www.automotix.net/carlocator.html which bring in vehicles from all over the country at affordable prices.
Henry Day Ford
3rd party internet leads
We are looking at cutting one of our 3rd party vendors (I won't say who it is so I don't piss anyone off!) and want to replace them with someone else. We are currently closing 1% of their leads year to date and pay a good amount of money for those leads.
We have a couple of ideas of who we would like to replace them with, but I wanted to throw this post out first to see if anyone has some solid recommendations. Just like any other dealer, we won't to receive a reasonably quality lead for the money we are paying and would be happy with around a 5% closing ratio.
Any suggestions???
5 Comments
DealershipMarketingServices.com
We would love to help, our leads close at a 10% to 12% rate. They come with 100% money back guarantee. call me if you would like to know more... Good luck Bryant! Manny Luna 832-341-1806
Moritz Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Fort Worth
For Pre-Owned, you might want to try GetAuto... http://www.dominionperformancenetwork.com/ my pre-owned sales director says they do very well with their lead services... sometimes they have more leads than they can handle... Hope it helps... Lyon Alizna / Huffines CJDR Lewisville, TX
LeadCrafters
Hey Bryant, Great idea coming here to ask. Like many, We also have an option. Our service helps dealers capture more FIRST party leads. These close at typically 14-30%, and come in smaller numbers (sometimes), heading off some busy work. Although we believe in a balance between 1st and 3rd party leads, if you're not getting enough from your leads in total, putting energy into 1st party leads will help your immediate ROI like no other. Check out LeadCrafters.com. Free trial. No strings. No term agreements. Feel free to call. We'd love to help. Chris Purser 954-399-2524
Dealer Prospect
Bryant Dealer Prospect will increase both your selling and your pre-owned purchasing capabilities. In today's world who isn't looking for a low cost total solution. Increase sales and increase your purchasing abilities. I won't boast on our numbers but our Dealers will. Larry Welborn Dealer Prospect (800) 716-7118
DealerFire
Hey Bryant- I would seriously consider investing those dollars into your own efforts at the dealership. I took a peak at your site and surrounding area and there is definitely room for improvement. Look at doing some competitive PPC, renewing your content strategy on a blog that's hosted on your main site, and enhance your calls to action. Another 3rd party likely means more of the same. Instead of paying to subsidize their marketing -- look at benefiting short and long term from investing those dollars in your dealership... -Aaron
Henry Day Ford
3rd party internet leads
We are looking at cutting one of our 3rd party vendors (I won't say who it is so I don't piss anyone off!) and want to replace them with someone else. We are currently closing 1% of their leads year to date and pay a good amount of money for those leads.
We have a couple of ideas of who we would like to replace them with, but I wanted to throw this post out first to see if anyone has some solid recommendations. Just like any other dealer, we won't to receive a reasonably quality lead for the money we are paying and would be happy with around a 5% closing ratio.
Any suggestions???
5 Comments
DealershipMarketingServices.com
We would love to help, our leads close at a 10% to 12% rate. They come with 100% money back guarantee. call me if you would like to know more... Good luck Bryant! Manny Luna 832-341-1806
Moritz Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram Fort Worth
For Pre-Owned, you might want to try GetAuto... http://www.dominionperformancenetwork.com/ my pre-owned sales director says they do very well with their lead services... sometimes they have more leads than they can handle... Hope it helps... Lyon Alizna / Huffines CJDR Lewisville, TX
LeadCrafters
Hey Bryant, Great idea coming here to ask. Like many, We also have an option. Our service helps dealers capture more FIRST party leads. These close at typically 14-30%, and come in smaller numbers (sometimes), heading off some busy work. Although we believe in a balance between 1st and 3rd party leads, if you're not getting enough from your leads in total, putting energy into 1st party leads will help your immediate ROI like no other. Check out LeadCrafters.com. Free trial. No strings. No term agreements. Feel free to call. We'd love to help. Chris Purser 954-399-2524
Dealer Prospect
Bryant Dealer Prospect will increase both your selling and your pre-owned purchasing capabilities. In today's world who isn't looking for a low cost total solution. Increase sales and increase your purchasing abilities. I won't boast on our numbers but our Dealers will. Larry Welborn Dealer Prospect (800) 716-7118
DealerFire
Hey Bryant- I would seriously consider investing those dollars into your own efforts at the dealership. I took a peak at your site and surrounding area and there is definitely room for improvement. Look at doing some competitive PPC, renewing your content strategy on a blog that's hosted on your main site, and enhance your calls to action. Another 3rd party likely means more of the same. Instead of paying to subsidize their marketing -- look at benefiting short and long term from investing those dollars in your dealership... -Aaron
2 Comments
Ron Henson
Orem Mazda
Hey Bryant, This was a biggie for me. I always believed that if you spend too much time working on the previous month, the next month gets away from you. Put deadlines in place. During the month deals shouldn't be in F&I longer than 48 hrs. That way, the only deals they are working at month end are the ones sold the prior day and that day. When a deal is in F&I longer than 48 hours, diminished commissions start to kick in. Have month end parties and bring in dinner for Admin personnel to "Stay until it's done." I always had the month closed and the statement submitted to the OEM by the 3rd, many times by the 2nd. It can be done, but it takes a dialed in process and a lot of teamwork.
Jeremy Lewis
Auto/Mate Dealerships Systems
When I was in the store sales had a day and a half from the last day of the month to get all the deals to the accounting office, now if the last day fell on a Saturday then they had til Tuesday at noon. One other thing to look at is there a problem with process in the DMS are they using an system that makes things harder than it should be.