Are you capitalizing on the opportunity available in online parts? In today's webinar, we had an in-depth discussion with a Parts and Accessories director that is winning the online parts game.

Garry Ricci, Parts & Accessories Director for Quality Buick GMC Mazda of Albuquerque is directly competing with the aftermarket for parts and accessory sales and winning. Watch this webinar recording to learn about the channels Ricci is using, what he is doing on those channels, and other parts selling strategies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a major shift in the automotive industry. Vehicle sales and service requests took a drop in the last three months, while parts sales have soared above the seasonal lifts. Today, we talked with Mike Rich and Matt Carothers about just how much the automotive industry took a hit in their go-to revenue streams, and how record online part and accessory sales have been the only upside for some dealers during this whole pandemic. We also discussed how dealerships can adapt their businesses to the changing market.

Watch this webinar recording to learn more.

Discover strategies to identify and capture additional profit on every car deal. After months of uncertainty, we are seeing dealerships open their doors, leaving GMs and F&I Managers looking to find ways to finish the second half of the year strong. 

In this live training session, David Adcock, EVP of Binary Automotive Solutions, shared his insight on how to boost profits with lifetime warranties and improve extended service contract penetration.

In addition, David also addressed the issues as to where profits are not maximized in each of the areas and showed how every employee in a dealership can learn how to work in a more holistic manner to develop a culture of value that permeates every aspect of a dealership and maximizes revenue through each of these areas.

We had a great discussion about improving the efficiency of your fixed operations at the online Presidents Club. We were joined by industry experts Keith Baker and Kevin Flounders.

Keith talked about the importance of building and maintaining relationships with your customers and getting the most out of every customer interaction.

Build relationships with your customers

“The dealers that are able to establish and maintain the strongest relationships with their clients are the ones that are going to win”. Mass texting campaigns are a great method to build relationships with your fixed ops customer today. These are pre-scheduled campaigns that dealers are able to send out to their entire customer base. These texting campaigns can be used in a variety of different ways and are effective in increasing retention and engagement.

Elements of a good fixed ops customer experience

With so much communication happening today, it’s important that your fixed ops messaging cut through the noise that your customers experience. Keith taught the four core elements that must be included in your CX to resonate with your customers. 

Personalization - To be treated like a human, not a number

Immediacy - Highly-responsive service

Consistency - A seamless experience across all departments

Anticipation - Ability to effectively predict and prescribe action customers

Fixed cost reduction

Kevin Flounders focused on creative ways that dealerships should be reducing fixed expenses and how this practice is a profit boost when times are good and a necessity for uncertain ones. Kevin compared fixed cost reduction to going on a diet. It’s not just about losing the weight, it’s about keeping the weight off. You should be reducing expenses in the long term, not just taking temporary reductions.

Kevin mentioned several specific expenses that your dealership should be evaluating. 

Cutting you fixed expenses is not a one-time project. You should continually focus on how you can make the most of your budget. Be persistent in following up with your vendors when negotiating your rates AND FEES. They are counting on you giving up. Now is a great time to get these expenses down. Vendors are very open to negotiation today and dealers should be taking advantage of this opportunity.

It’s not too late to catch Presidents Club. We will be having more working sessions each day this week that are free to attend. Learn more here. 

Due to shelter-in-place and social distancing measures that prevent the spread of COVID-19, dealerships across the country are hurting and scrambling to adapt to their customers' new mind-set and restrictions. 

Join industry experts Andreas Ronneseth of RevolutionParts and Ted Fellowes of Fellowes Research for a discussion about digital parts commerce and how it can help dealerships through a down economy.

Learn about the surprising traffic trends and parts sales happening online right now, and how eCommerce and other digital logistics tools can help dealers serve their local wholesale and retail customers.

Key Takeaways:
1. COVID-19 and the resulting economic downturn have changed how dealership parts and service do business, likely permanently.
2. Digital parts commerce is a viable source of revenue for dealers because consumers are still buying online.
3. Dealers can use digital parts commerce to provide omnichannel services to their local wholesale and retail customers.

We spoke to Brandon Nixon, National Sales Director at Update Promise, to talk about implementing new tools in Fixed Ops and how your personnel can build trust with customers.

“I don’t care what vendor you go with, what tools you go out there with. They’re exactly that, they’re tools.”

New tools and processes won’t automatically solve all of the problems in your dealership, as a manager you have to drive implementation and keep everyone accountable to the new product. If you can keep everyone accountable, including yourself, you can use almost any tool and succeed.

“You’re about five times more likely to get an approval when you have a photo or video attached.”

Most customers don’t understand what you’re talking about when you contact them about potential service, having visual examples can build trust with your customers. If your advisors and technicians turn the camera on themselves that can help develop a personal connection with your customers and build trust even more.

At NADA 2020 we sat down with Owen Moon, CEO & Cofounder of Fixed Ops Digital, to talk about what you can do to improve your service department. Recalls are a great way to keep your service drive busy. If customers are aware of a recall and they do their own searching online then you might lose a sale. Make sure that marketing recalls is something you are doing or you will lose service visits to competitors. Having services done at the dealership is the best way to build your brand and provide value to your customers. With cars becoming more technologically advanced it is your job to market to customers the value of your store. Third parties are less likely to have the training required for newer vehicles. When someone has a service problem they want it fixed immediately. Learn how you can be there to help by watching the video. 

We spoke with the President and CEO of Tire Profiles, Dave Boyle to see why dealers have struggled in the tire market for decades. Selling tires can add a big boost to your business. Tires are not a loss leader. They provide value to your store making you a one-stop-shop. No matter what customers are going to shop pricing, if you can offer them pricing that is competitive they are more likely to purchase tires through you. Properly pricing tires will help you remain competitive and maximize your margins. Explaining to the customer the value of tires through your store can take time. They likely just see the price. Simplify the process for the consumer and show them one or two options for their current situation. Explain the difference between the options. Act like you are explaining this to your mom and inform your customer on the tire that will give them the best value.

We sat down with Anthony Greenhalgh, Rapid Recon's Director of Group Performance, at NADA 2020 to talk about refining processes. Getting rid of unnecessary steps in a process will allow the organization to operate at its full potential. Sometimes that might be literal steps in the dealership. If you can help people stay close to their working area each day you will help them be productive. Another great way to clean up a process is by focusing on load balancing. Load balancing distributes a workload across multiple resources allowing for a team to work to their full potential.

Working with people is like a bank account. You are constantly making withdrawals and deposits of trust to help establish a working relationship. It is important to constantly be making deposits of trust so that when you need something in the future you have established a strong relationship and you can withdraw when needed.