NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK, NY – June 21, 2016: First Wheel’s Automotive Dealer Supplies Inc. released its new reusable dry-erase type hang tags to save dealers money while using these tags as powerful merchandising tools. 

Now comes from Wheels new Magic Cling car window information holders for adding a crisp, like-new merchandising appeal that shouts, ‘Look here!” as shoppers browse the lot. 

Presenting with a pre-printed customized section for dealership branding and marketing, these cling holders accept dealer-printed window stickers and then press and hold everything firmly and tightly to the window glass, creating a better visual perception for your used cars. 

Wheel’s magic-cling window sticker holders can be custom ordered in any size or shape. The minimum order is 25. These magic-cling holders leave no residue when removed from car windows. They can be used again repeatedly. Custom imprint area is 5 by 11-inch. 

Dealers may also be interested in Wheel’s new reusable dry erase-type hang tags designed to save dealers money by replacing wasteful paper tags.  With Wheel’s exclusive dry-erase hang tags dealers simply wipe clean any prior message and write new details using dry erase or wet erasable markers. 

A dealer selling 1,000 new and used vehicles a year will enjoy an ROI of $600 in the second year of tag use, replacing disposable paper tags. 

To order Wheel’s proprietary dry erase reusable hang tags that save money to merchandise inventory, call Renee at 1-800-465-8831, Ext. 105. For more innovative and cost-saving lot merchandising and dealership supplies, visit wheelsauto.com

More than 100 companies at NADA this year marketed products and services aimed at making fixed operations more efficient and profitable. The big question coming out of NADA is this: did dealers grasp onto the better ideas to help them eliminate costs, improve service volume, and increase customer retention? 

“If not, that’s a big miss,” says Ryan Williams, president of Fidelis PPM, revenue- and retention-building prepaid maintenance software. “Dealers should already be investing in solutions that create new revenue streams and then hold on to it.” 

Coincidently, international sales strategist Grant Cardone, a name well known in automotive retailing, shared similar caution, in his article “Prepare for a Massive Recession,” in Entrepreneur magazine.  “Don’t wait for it to get here - operate like it is here now,” Cardone wrote. “Stop ALL spending except on those things that can increase income. Do NOT spend to consume; spend only to increase income. 

With monthly proven ROI and 20% service growth, products such as prepaid maintenance programs meet these criteria, Williams says. “When programs like this can deliver a three-year retention average of 68% and $70 per RO upsell, their contribution to a dealership’s profitability can be enormous.” 

 Dealers should ask the following when considering products or services that are being offered: 

• Does your retention program drive consumers to your shop?
• Is the customer experience it delivers positive enough, so they come back again?
• Are there accountability tools baked into the solution to measure the lift in customer-pay dollars for each visit, so program ROI can be proved? The dealers Williams met with at NADA were actively gauging vendors’ service-profitability ideas. They were also seeking advice about solutions that didn’t require them to reinvent how their service department operates.  

Programs that enhance existing processes, such as prepaid maintenance plans that drive buyers back to the selling dealership, help retain customer business and keep service bays occupied. Such plans produce: 

• 85% first-year retention, 65% each of the following two years
• $70 customer-pay upsell per repair order
• On average $1,105 in customer-pay service business a year with you, for the majority of the six years consumers own their vehicles today 

“Every decision a dealer makes about an investment factors in at least two objectives: How will it streamline operations to remove waste and cost, and how will it drive service volume, retention, and thus revenue,” Williams notes. 

“If a dealer isn’t evaluating purchases for their ability to achieve both goals, dealers leave potential revenue on the table. That’s not the way to situate the dealership for leaner days ahead.” 

Williams notes that most any vendor’s service offering, especially from those marketing prepaid maintenance and related programs, must offer the dealer measurability. 

“Most programs cannot substantiate their retention promises, and dealers putting faith in such plans have misplaced hope,” he says. 

Fidelis PPM is the authority in helping dealers retain customers through process-driven prepaid preventive maintenance retention programs. These programs drive consumers into participating dealers’ service  departments. Deep reporting tools provide dealers with detail-rich accountability metrics.

For more information, visit www.getfidelis.com    or email Williams at ryan@getfidelis.com