Good Morning, ABC Motors. How can I help you? I saw an ’02 Malibu on your lot yesterday. How much is it? I’m sorry, we already sold that car. Uh, OK. Thanks. Goodbye. How many sales calls at your dealership sound like this one? More than you think according to numerous studies. A J. D. Powers study of inbound sales calls to auto dealerships found that: Only 11%
I often begin our Collections training class by asking the students what the most important collection tool is at their dealerships. I get answers ranging from the telephone to the tow truck but I have never had a student give me the right answer. The correct answer is the application. That’s right, if you want to successfully collect the loans or leases you make to your dealer controlled financing customers,
The following is a list of terms and formulas that are used in the basic math calculations performed every day in the operation of a BHPH dealership. Many of these terms have extensive legal and accounting implications. These definitions are not meant to give you the complete legal definitions or interpretations. The purpose of this list is to illustrate a common language that used in this setting. Some are very
Collections during the upcoming holiday season always become just a little tougher. We know our Buy Here – Pay Here customers live paycheck to paycheck and, during this time of the year, there are more demands on those paychecks than ever. The cost of holiday meals at Thanksgiving and Christmas or Hanukkah plus Christmas presents and even preparations for New Year require extra money when our customers have very little
Improvement is a universal theme. We all want to be better… to do better. We want our business to improve and we want our personal lives to improve. The question becomes, “How do I make that happen?” 1. Plan The first step along the path to improvement is to plan. Decide where you or your business needs to improve. Set goals you want to reach to indicate you have achieved
Charging late fees is a practice some Buy Here – Pay Here dealers choose to do but an approximately equal number consider to be a bad practice. Those who charge fees when their customers pay late typically look at it as another source of revenue. Those who believe that it is a poor practice will, more often than not, site one or more of the following reasons. 1. Your customers
I’d like to share a guest blog this week written by my friend, Jim Radogna. Jim is the President of Dealer Compliance Consultants, Inc. Before founding Dealer Compliance Consultants, Jim developed a strong background in dealership operations, having spent over 15 years in dealership management. His experience includes working in diversified roles including sales manager, F&I director, general manager, and training director. In addition, he served as compliance officer for a large
I usually keep these blog postings pretty non-commercial. I try to make them on industry related topics and as informative as possible. I decided to make this one a little different in light of our recently announced Business Builder Pricing. We get inquiries from dealers looking to enter the Buy Here – Pay Here or Lease Here – Pay Here business frequently. As the cost of wholesale inventory has risen
I have just returned from the 1st Annual Mid-Atlantic Independent Auto Dealers Association Conference in Atlantic City. It was an excellent conference with 25 educational sessions to assist independent auto dealers. The conference was very well run and, based on everything I heard from dealers in attendance, will continue to grow every year. If you weren’t there, I’d put this one on your calendar as a must attend for next year.
The Buy Here Pay Here market continues to grow. According to studies done by Experian, 9.18% of all vehicles financing in 2010 and 14.38% of used vehicle financing were done by BHPH dealers. Last year those numbers grew to 9.8% of all vehicles and 16.62% of used vehicles financed. As the economy continues to struggle, it appears this growth trend will continue for 2012 and beyond. Growth in this market
