Boost Summer Car Sales with Smart Strategies: Join Our Free Webinar!

As the summer heats up, car dealerships are gearing up for one of the most crucial sales periods of the year. However, with changing market dynamics and evolving consumer behaviors, traditional sales strategies may no longer be enough. That’s why we’re excited to invite you to our upcoming free webinar, “Boost Summer Car Sales with Smart Strategies,” on July 18, 2024, at 1 PM EST.

Why This Webinar is a Must-Attend Event

Hosted by DrivingSales and featuring Suzanne Reimer, Chief Marketing Officer at Lotlinx, this webinar is designed to equip dealership professionals with the insights and strategies needed to excel in the current market. Suzanne brings over 20 years of experience in digital transformation and marketing strategy, making her an invaluable resource for anyone looking to enhance their sales approach.

What You’ll Learn

During this informative session, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities presented by the summer sales season. Here are some key topics we’ll cover:

• New Inventory Growth: Discover how to manage the influx of new inventory while handling carryover from previous seasons. Learn innovative strategies to stay ahead in a changing supply chain landscape.
• Consumer Preferences: Understand why consumers are keeping their cars longer and preferring older models over new ones. This shift in behavior is crucial for adapting your sales strategies.
• Economic Pressures: Learn how inflation and high interest rates are impacting new vehicle demand and how you can adjust your pricing and financing options to attract budget-conscious buyers.
• Shifting Sales Strategies: Adapt to an uneven market with flexible, data-driven sales techniques that cater to diverse customer needs and keep you competitive.
• Challenged EV Market: Navigate the complexities of the electric vehicle market, from supply chain disruptions to consumer skepticism, and gain a significant advantage in this emerging segment.

Key Takeaways

By the end of this webinar, you’ll walk away with actionable strategies and tools to boost your summer car sales. Our key takeaways include:

• Top Market Factors Impacting Summer Sales: Gain insights into the primary market factors influencing your sales and learn how to leverage them to your advantage.
• Top 5 Strategies for Moving Inventory: Discover effective strategies to move your inventory quickly and efficiently, tailored to the needs of general managers, new and used car managers, and marketing directors.
• Free Inventory Analytics Tool: Access a complimentary tool designed to help you analyze and optimize your inventory management, essential for making data-driven decisions.
• VIN-Specific Strategies: Learn detailed, VIN-specific strategies that will help general managers and new car managers handle their inventory more effectively.
• Proactive Inventory Management: Understand the importance of proactive inventory management using data intelligence to maintain a competitive edge in the market.

Who Should Attend?

• General Managers
• New and Used Car Managers
• Inventory Managers
• Marketing Directors
• Marketing Managers

Register Today

Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your summer car sales with proven strategies from industry experts. Join us on July 18, 2024, at 1 PM EST for this invaluable session.

Ready to take your summer car sales to the next level? Sign up now to participate in this essential webinar!

Have questions or need more information? Request more information today!

In a recent sit-down with Kanchana Sundaram, Sr Director of Product & Innovation with Experian, we discuss first and third-party fraud. We talk about how fraud is evolving and its impact on a dealership. Kanchana talks about what you can do to address it in your store.

How has dealership fraud evolved?

With the acceleration of the use of digital tools for the last couple of years since the pandemic, what we're seeing is that fraudsters are leveraging multiple types of identities to get through some of these digital retailing tools and to essentially outsmart existing processes that dealers already have in place. 

A good example of that is a couple of the types of fraud that you raised, first-party fraud and third-party fraud. These are instances where fraudsters essentially leverage a good credit profile, so they have either stolen someone's identity with a good credit profile. Think of somebody that maybe works in a nursing home and there's a person they're taking care of that has built up a really great credit history for many, many years. They steal their identity or an identity that was stolen as part of a data breach. Or you also have criminal rings who go after people, and they have people that are part of their criminal rings who essentially have good credit history that they leverage. So the traditional processes that a dealership has would not flag that person as a potential fraudster. 

But what we do at Experian is we leverage analytics that tell us whether that person has had any history of defaulting on their payments, which really leads us to believe that they don't have the intent to continue paying or to pay for the purchase that they're moving forward. That means that there needs to be a deeper look at that identity.

How often is fraud taking place?

If the dealerships have solutions that the criminals identify are weakened, they become a target for other criminals. That's what we've heard back from law enforcement. 

It's important that dealers protect themselves because as we see more and more people adopting essentially digital technology, it's exposing dealerships more and more. And as you know, they're if they don't protect themselves, then they potentially become targets.

How much of the liability can lie with the dealership?

That's a great question because it depends on the way the fraud is perpetuated.

So essentially, if the person defaults on the first payment, the dealer is left holding the bag. What happens is if they're not able to recover that vehicle, let's say that the vehicle has now it's part of a criminal ring and they've managed to move the vehicle out, they don't have the ability to recover any of that money, and they're left with potentially their insurance premiums increasing as a result.

We've also heard from lenders that there are situations where there are more sophisticated criminals, who basically pay down against a vehicle for a certain period of time. It could be anywhere, for example, up to six months, which gives them the opportunity to move the vehicle out of the country, making it incredibly difficult for law enforcement to recover the asset. In that case, you have the lender who has the liability, but ultimately it's the consumer who is going to be impacted because all of these affect the bottom line for both of the retailers, which ends up being passed on to consumers over time.

Are lenders flagging dealerships with fraud history?

Well, that can happen. You will have cases where they may ask dealers to do further due diligence. It is possible that dealers do face some of those consequences that you laid out. Ultimately, it's in the best interest of both parties to be able to have those robust practices in place so that they can avoid those situations.

It's interesting that you mentioned lenders flagging some of these fraudsters that sharing information regarding the history of that identity becomes important. That's where I think the credit bureau plays a great role because we are connected to so many lenders and we're getting information being reported back to us as well as tracking the trade line. History across these identities allows us to be able to provide that deeper level of analytics akin to what you mentioned.

How long has Experian been monitoring fraud?

Experian has been at the forefront of fraud in the industry for a very long time. This isn't a new topic for us. And we have premiere products that are at the forefront of the industry, and we leverage those products as part of this dealer-centric automotive solution.

You mentioned that the traditional way that the dealership would look through a credit report. You're right, it does take education and training to be able to understand the different scores and the different pieces of information that come back from that credit report. And, you know, there aren't many people in the dealership who necessarily have the depth of training to even look through all of that information.

That was some of the feedback that we got from dealers. We designed the solution partnering with dealers. They said that it was really important that this be something that was very easy to adopt for a salesperson. And so, in spite of us having complicated analytics underneath that flag these potentially fraudulent identities, we present that in a way that's visually very simple for a salesperson to understand this is a potential synthetic fraud because there was an issue with the document and there was an issue with the biometric. This is a potential first-party fraud because we saw defaults by this particular individual. This is a person that may be flagged even higher as a third-party fraud because we're seeing this identity being leveraged in multiple trade lines with defaults associated with them.

It has to be very simple for salespeople to use because in this industry you've already got a hard enough challenge selling cars. We don't want to make it more complicated. It was important that it be frictionless with the consumer as well, so it's a very simple four-step process for the consumer.

Fraud and AI

Well, artificial intelligence, I think, is an exciting part of our journey as a society. There are so many cool functionalities that we're all leveraging today that are built on artificial intelligence capabilities. One of the things that we have a real depth of expertise in at Experian is the area of big data machine learning analytics, all of which provide the underlying layer that allows us to create artificial intelligence. So I think you described as a salesperson, you know, what were all the activities that you had to very manually take to be able to get information back about the person you're interacting with. And you weren't even provided some of that information in an easy-to-access way. It just wasn't even available to you.

So we're seeing solutions like fraud, protect, as you know, the growth of the maturity ladder towards more and more evolved A.I. that essentially help salespeople to do their jobs a lot easier and remove a lot of that difficult manual effort that they need to do through automation and intelligence, from data and analytics.

How will AI help people commit fraud?

I think you're seeing a lot of the sophistication in synthetic IDs happening as a result of the access that criminals have to this kind of information for them to put together identities.

Data breaches are also of concern where they're able to steal identities from people. And so interacting with trusted data sources and platforms, I think is becoming more and more important to consumers in an ever-increasing digitally sophisticated era where we're sharing more and more of our data to conduct interactions and transactions with retailers and other experiences that we're doing.

So I think that that's a really important part of any solution is to make sure that you're interacting with somebody who's invested in protecting your data.

What is Experian launching at NADA?

Well, I'm in Vegas right now. I'm in this beautiful hotel room at the Venetian, which feels like a palace to me. NADA is always an exciting place to be. 

We are launching our Fraud Protect Solution at NADA this year. We've been working with a number of dealers who've been using the product and have received great feedback from them.

We had dealers who were facing losses because of vehicles being stolen through various types of fraud, including these fraudulent identities. Adopting these practices really helped them identify where they needed to take more steps to validate the person's identity, reducing the amount of back and forth and pushback on pushing through the deal.

It also acted as a deterrent to prevent those fraudulent transactions from going through. So, for example, the very first day that we turned this on at one of our dealers, they had a consumer come in and they uploaded their driver's license. They were about to take they reached the step where they had to take a picture of themselves and they balked and they walked away from the transaction, which was a vehicle worth over $100,000.

It's things like that that help dealers put solutions that are going to protect themselves and their bottom line.

How else is fraud impacting dealerships?

Well, I think time is money. And at the dealership, we already know that there's a big focus across our industry. You know, any day you're going to just run into a number of partners who are building solutions that are going to make things easier for dealers and help them essentially focus on selling more cars.

In the economy that we're in today, where everyone is margin-constrained, it's important that these solutions be light, be things that are easily integrated into existing processes that dealers already have today. That was one of the biggest things that we focused on, working with our dealer partners is this solution is it's not yet another portal that they have to log into, but it's integrated right into their CRM.

So when a salesperson is interacting with that shopper, the consumer's information goes into the CRM, and the results of the four-step process that they went through go right into their CRM with the link so that they can click in a very simple to read visual that tells them if they're ready to go ahead to the next step or if they need to take further validation steps.

How susceptible are dealers to being hacked?

I think it's a very important aspect of being a digital retailer that a dealership needs to take into consideration. I have so much admiration for dealers. They're such a complex business. Many of them are small to medium-sized businesses, the heart of their town, you know, And now we're seeing a lot more groups and group expansion.

But at the end of the day, a dealership is a very complex business, and this is yet another aspect that dealers need to grow their understanding in, which is around data security, how we talk about output. And you're talking about consumer data, one of the things that we do not do is we do not share back our things like a consumer's biometric information.

That's protected and it's not something that would end up at a dealership. I think dealers need to make sure that whatever solutions they're using has a component of protecting the consumer data that they are collecting. Obviously, at Experian, it's a huge part of our business and we are heavily invested in the protection of consumer data by following all of the government regulations that are out there. So any solution that is part of the Experian suite of solutions, make sure that it is compliant with all of those regulations.

Final thoughts?

I think that the biggest thing is in this ever-evolving digital era, it's important that dealers be on top of what they're exposed to with these increasingly sophisticated criminals who are leveraging various stolen identities or identities that are good identities that might not be flagged by their existing processes.

We hope that our Experian Automotive Fraud Protect Solution is going to help dealers evolve their processes to be able to protect themselves and protect their bottom line.

In the fast-paced world of automotive, effective communication is the engine that keeps things running smoothly. While emails have become the go-to method of correspondence, it's important not to overlook the value of personal interactions. As we know, each department of a dealership, be it sales, service, parts, or body shop, is meant to run almost independently of one another, yet still cohesively. Therefore, interdepartmental communication can benefit significantly from face time, whether it's through in-person meetings or phone calls. So fasten your seat belts while we hit the road to better communication!

In a technologically driven industry, it's easy to get lost in the digital realm of emails and text messages. However, nothing can replace the power of human connection. Meeting face-to-face or having a genuine conversation over the phone adds a personal touch that fosters trust, collaboration, and understanding. It's like taking a thrilling test drive instead of just reading about a car's features on a website.

While emails may convey information efficiently, they lack the subtleties of non-verbal communication. Facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice conveys more than words alone. A raised eyebrow or a friendly smile can provide invaluable context, helping to avoid miscommunication or misunderstandings. So why settle for "LOL" or emojis when you can share a genuine laugh in person?

Be it between team members or with a customer, strong relationships act as the oil that keeps the automotive industry's engine running smoothly. Taking the time to meet face-to-face or engage in real conversations creates opportunities for bonding and camaraderie. These personal connections enhance collaboration, encourage open dialogue, and foster a sense of teamwork. Plus, sharing a cup of coffee together beats email attachments any day!

The auto industry comprises numerous departments, each with its own goals and challenges. Interdepartmental communication is crucial for aligning objectives and streamlining processes. By stepping away from our screens and engaging in real conversations, we bridge the gaps between departments and break down silos. A simple conversation can uncover insights, spark innovation, and create a unified vision for success.

When faced with complex challenges, auto requires swift and effective problem-solving. While email threads can drag on, a quick phone call or face-to-face meeting can help resolve issues in real-time. Brainstorming sessions, where ideas are freely exchanged, can lead to breakthroughs that propel projects forward. And let's not forget the power of a good old-fashioned whiteboard session to rev up the creative engines!

In closing, in an industry where speed and precision are paramount, it's important to remember that effective communication must go beyond emails and texts. Embracing face time—whether through in-person meetings, phone calls, or, well, FaceTime—can transform interdepartmental relationships and supercharge collaboration. The automotive industry thrives on personal connections, and the benefits of stepping away from screens to engage with colleagues cannot be understated.

So, let's ignite our communication engines, schedule those meetings, and make those calls. Let's bring back the laughter, camaraderie, and human touch that make the automotive industry a vibrant and exciting place to work. After all, in a world of machines and AI, it's the people who drive us forward.

Reach out if you want to learn how DrivingSales Human Capital Management (HCM) can help your team improve communication and increase productivity. Safe travels and happy collaborating!