2017 MVI WINNER

Congratulations to Ian Cruickshank from Speed Shift Media who is the 2017 MVI Winner! Read about his project below:

“How Well Does Dealership VDP Engagement Correlate to Car Sales?” Speed Shift Media, Ian Cruickshank.
It’s suggested now that lead forms are dead and VDP engagement should the main metric to measure. But without the form submission, how can we be certain that someone is interested in our inventory? Find out how well VDP engagement correlates to vehicle car sales at Presidents Club.

An additional huge congratulations to our two other finalists:

“Prioritize Your Prospects: Uncover Clues to Predict Who Will Buy Next” AutoLoop, Doug Van Sach.

Each year, the average customer test drives fewer vehicles. Given the fewer opportunities and limited time available to sales people, the key question for them is: which prospects do I contact first? Based on survey results from dealership customers, AutoLoop will take you through a better understanding of who is likely to buy, and when. Find out more at Presidents Club.

“Using Artificial Intelligence to Prioritize Customer Engagement” T2 Modus, Jim Roach.
If only one salesman came to work today, what is the first opportunity he should act upon that is most likely to sell a car today? Find out the method to the madness from T2 and find out how aligning the right customer with the right salesperson maximizes the result.

Identifying the Most Valuable Insight

The Most Valuable Insight Competition is designed to reveal and showcase never-before-released data and research unique in the automotive industry. The Competition was created in the spirit of progress and industry thought leadership.

Taking the conversations to the highest level, auto industry professionals share their research findings and insights live on stage with the highest-level dealership executives to foster inspiration, progression, and celebration of a better automotive retail industry.

The Most Valuable Insight Competition encourages automotive professionals to provide an innovative insight supported by research and dealer experience that dealer executives can apply to their operations and achieve competitive advantage.

Check out the most popular blogs on DrivingSales during March of 2017.

Congratulations to Carlos Sousa for having the top DrivingSales blog in February 2017. His blog titled "Top 5 Reasons You're Wasting Internet Leads" looks at the ways dealerships utilize their internet leads, and what they can do to improve. We caught up with him to learn more! 

DrivingSales is thrilled to announce that Bart Wilson will be a moderator during Presidents Club. Here's a sneak peek of what Bart will be doing while at the event, and how you can learn from him!

Company’s new Express Trade solution for the iPad gives dealerships even more  control in how they price automotive trades

San Francisco, Calif. — March 28— Roadster, the leader in eCommerce solutions for car buying and leasing, today announced the rollout of a new Express Trade tool that will give dealerships more control and ease in how they price automotive trades. Improving upon current dealer trade offerings, Roadster’s new solution allows dealers who want to price their own trades, to do so online by gathering all of the information they need from the customer prior to coming into the dealership.

“With Express Trade, sales people are empowered to utilize any pricing system they want in a streamlined and incredibly user friendly interface,” said Andy Moss, CEO of Roadster. “This allows dealers to save time while also providing a price they can honor with confidence.”

In just a few steps, Express Trade guides car buyers to capture their VIN barcode with their smartphone, answer a few simple questions about their car’s history and share photos of their car.  Buyers are asked to upload photos of any dents, peeling paint, tears or scratches that are visible from three feet away. They are also asked specific questions about the ownership and condition of their vehicle, including if the check engine or other service lights are illuminated.

Once all information is collected, Express Trade notifies the car buyer that the dealership will provide an offer within three business hours of submission.  Roadster’s solution then empowers dealers to quote a trade-in price that is transparent and one that the dealership can stand by.  

“Roadster’s Express Trade solution is not only incredibly user friendly, but it fosters a new level of trust between our salespeople and car buyers,” said Sohail Tabar of Ford Serramonte.  “Through its simplified interface, car buyers now understand all of the important factors that go into pricing a trade, while dealerships are finally empowered to use their own information to price a trade. Our dealership can’t wait to engage with customers in this manner - Express Trade serves as a fair and easy solution to what has thus far been a subjective trade-in evaluation process.”

DALLAS, Texas, March 29, 2017 – MUSA Auto Finance, an auto finance company specializing in new and pre-owned vehicle leasing, announced today it has entered into a $125 million warehouse facility with Goldman Sachs and additionally, secured a capital investment of up to $50 million from Crestline Investors, Inc. The capital investment along with the warehouse facility will provide MUSA Auto Finance with the funding needed to launch its auto leasing program nationwide in 2017. MUSA’s business plan is to begin originating new and pre-owned leases strategically in key U.S. major markets, with continued geographic expansion and market penetration in 2017 and 2018.

MUSA Auto Finance was founded by Jeff Morgan, who also owns Mortgages USA and Internet Auto Group. Richard Frunzi, President, former co-founder and COO of Exeter Finance Corp., joined Mr. Morgan in 2016 to create MUSA Auto Finance. The company has recently consummated the asset purchase of an originations, servicing and collections platform based in Jacksonville, Fla. 

“It has always been a career goal of mine to create an auto finance company that would modernize vehicle leasing and make it accessible to more consumers. To be entering into this venture with Goldman Sachs and Crestline Investors sets MUSA on the path to become one of the premier consumer vehicle leasing companies in the U.S.,” said Jeff Morgan, Owner and CEO of MUSA Auto Finance.   

Richard Frunzi, President, added, “Our new funding capacity gives MUSA the ability to build out our infrastructure, and launch our innovative lease program nationally. Our effortless lease program greatly simplifies the leasing process, opening doors to dealer personnel that have never offered a lease product before. In addition, our unique product gives customers an option to lease both new and pre-owned vehicles.”

About MUSA Auto Finance

MUSA Auto Finance maintains its corporate offices in Dallas, Texas, with a Servicing/Collections center in Jacksonville, Fla. MUSA originates its leases from franchise and select independent dealers and will be expanding its sales force nationwide. The company expects to be in 25 major markets over the next 12 months and all 48 contiguous states within the next two years. 

MUSA’s leadership team consists of Jeff Morgan, Owner and CEO; Richard Frunzi, President; Cinde Perales, Chief Compliance Officer; Eric Estes, Chief Operations Officer; and Scott Schondau, Chief Financial Officer. For more information, visit www.musaautofinance.com.  

About Crestline Investors, Inc.
Crestline Investors, Inc., founded in 1997 and based in Fort Worth, Texas, is a credit focused institutional alternative investment management firm with approximately $9.2 billion of assets under management. Crestline specializes in credit and opportunistic investments, including bespoke financing and restructuring solutions for mature or troubled private equity funds. In addition, the firm manages a multi-PM equity market-neutral hedge fund, and provides Beta and Hedging Solutions for Institutional clients. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the company maintains affiliate offices in New York City, Chicago, London, Toronto and Tokyo. For more information, please visit www.crestlineinvestors.com. 

Netsertive has just released their Automotive Digital Marketing Intelligence Report for 2017. After reading through it, I found some very valuable things for dealers that you can start implementing to improve your dealership today.

The 2016 Overview

Reading the 2016 overview gave me some important insights about how the industry is changing, and what we can do to keep up with it.

• Multichannel marketing gets you the best results. Combining Facebook ads with search engine marketing leads to 5% more conversions. Similarly, running digital video ads with search engine marketing lead to 37% more conversions.
• 9 out of 10 website visitors won't convert on the first visit. This means you need to intrigue them enough, that they'll come back again for their second visit, where they're more likely to convert.
• 97% of car shoppers buy local. So you need to have a website that shows them where you are, and why you're the best option, even if you won't sell online.

Changes For 2017

Looking over all the fantastic research Netsertive did pointed me in the direction of changes dealers can make for 2017.

• A fast, flexible, and mobile-friendly web experience can hugely grow your smartphone clicks. Focusing on your mobile site can lead to high rewards.
• Many paid campaigns will drop off in the early evening, so make sure that you are working to have your campaign running past 5 PM. The study also found that the average person spends 54 minutes on social media every day. You never know when that will be, so making sure your campaign is running most of the time is valuable.
• High intent shoppers are caught with search engine marketing. This is the best way to get people who are closer to the buying stage, but needs to be used with mixed marketing efforts.
• The top 2 ad positions captures 85% of customers. That means it's insanely valuable to work on your search ranking, and be willing to bid using paid SEM to increase your placement.
• Working with mixed methods of marketing can help lower your cost per conversion and cost per click. This study shows that working with social media, as well as more traditional marketing such as TV or radio, can all work together to help your online search engine marketing.

What Can You Do Now?

So with all this interesting information, what can your dealership do today to make changes?

• Find the right investment balance of more traditional marketing strategies, and the ever invaluable social media and digital realm.
• Shoppers research nearly 24 websites during their buying process, which gives you a host of opportunities to show reviews and information about your website.
• Know your audience and where they spend their time.
• Google and Facebook are the most popular places for shoppers, invest some time and money in those mediums.
• Run search engine marketing campaigns in conjunction with other mediums.
•  

Meet Derrick Woolfson, a BDC Manager at Younger Auto Group, and learn about his dealership story. 

The DrivingSales My Dealership Story series gives people in dealerships around the country the chance to meet others in the industry, learn their story, and see how they are impacting automotive.

Presidents Club Workshops Announced

We are excited to announce the workshops for Presidents Club this year! We've planned a power-packed agenda featuring some of the industry's top thought leaders, check out who you can interact with at the event.Just an FYI - If you haven't registered, we only have 2 weeks left - and limited seats - view tickets today!

Workshop: Hiring and Motivating the Perfect Team

 Workshop: Millennials and Car Buying 

Workshop: Overcoming New Dealer Model Threats

 Workshop: Fixed Ops Retooled for Competition 

Workshop: Marketing in a Mobile First World

Workshop: Used Vehicle Strategy 

View tickets today

Learn how to make your DrivingSales blog blow up! Our recent webinar gave tips on posting a blog, getting a great topic and title, and our other promotional and general tips will help you get your blog the success it deserves. Take a look at the webinar recordings below to learn how to help your blog blow up!

Check Out The Slideshow Here