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Now that you’ve determined the hot cars and the amount that you can pay, once again you need to turn to technology to see where those vehicles are offered for sale. Be prepared to use on-line auction platforms and/or buyers on the road. These hot vehicles will often not be available in your backyard. Finally, because this approach takes more time and effort than traditional sourcing, it is wise to designate an appropriate stocking analyst to do the research and legwork on behalf of the used car manager. Using these strategies and technologies, the used car manager and stocking analyst will source an endless supply of hot cars for the right money.
Read the whole post, Dale is speaking the truth, no doubt about it. And remember Dealerslink is one of those sources!!
I want you to read this blog by Dale Pollak commenting on a recent AutomotiveNews article by Arlena Sawyers. I would also like you to read the letter below I sent to Arlena.
Remember - this is YOUR marketplace!
Hi Arlena,
Great article with Dale and Tom. I agree wholeheartedly with them and I truly believe the opportunity they discuss can be maximized and leveraged through various new dealer-direct wholesale platforms. I am very biased towards our software since we’ve been refining it for 5 years now, but the onslaught of new competition (5 new companies in the last year) makes this point even stronger. Wholesaling and purchasing are changing – the reasons, the “velocity”, and the means. Traditional auction houses and wholesalers are the status quo and have been for 100 years, but that in itself will not ensure they remain that way.
A move is happening, and I look forward to the day when that move itself reaches the pages of your storied newspaper.
All the best to you and yours,
Travis
Make Dealerslink all it can be, without you there is no marketplace.
The reason social media is so difficult for most organizations
It's a process, not an event.
Dating is a process. So is losing weight, being a public company and building a brand.
On the other hand, putting up a trade show booth is an event. So are going public and having surgery.
Events are easier to manage, pay for and get excited about. Processes build results for the long haul.
Seth Godin, as he often does, makes a great point. Having experience in Lean Process consulting, I know how difficult it can be for a company or team to commit to managing their processes. I also know the reward.
Making the Dealerslink Marketplace a part of your operations is no different than Seth's example of losing weight. Getting integrated (buying the first week of food) is a start. Using it for a week (adding exercise) creates positive motion. However, it is the continued use (diet, exercise, lifestyle) that creates compounding results and changes your operations (or life) forever.
Use Dealerslink today, repeat it tomorrow, manage the process no matter how difficult and your dealership will increase sales and lower acquisition costs, period.
Another quote worth relating to Dealerslink's Marketplace:
It means that many buyers will return from auction without purchasing vehicles that they badly need. Their conclusion will be that prices are too high to make any money. This is largely based on their expectations of buying vehicles for prices that allow them to make traditional gross profits in addition to a traditional pack.dalepollak.com, Velocity | DalePollak.com, Jan 2010
Dale goes into much more detail int he article, and you should read it, but this piece is quite clear. If folks will not buy at auction, if they still desire to make profit but without the pre-purchase risk of inflated pricing, doesn't it make sense to install an on-demand marketplace into your dealership? I would use the tools at hand to sell vehicles prior to buying them (it happens more often than folks will admit and our dealers can attest to that). Less risk, more opportunity - it's real.
Here is an excerpt from a recent Dale Pollak article in Auto Success:
• The store still emphasized its franchise brand, with 80 percent of its used inventory reflecting the nameplate. As we reviewed marketplace dynamics, the store had virtually none of the off-brand highline models that were selling like hotcakes, nor did it stock enough of off-brand, “plain Jane” units that, while not as exciting as sports cars and other snazzy units the store preferred to stock, were selling at faster rates.
• The store’s average days in inventory ran well above 100 days. Its retail asking prices were, on average, 10 percent above the market if not more. Both of these, I learned, were symptomatic of a dealership goal of generating $3,000 gross profit per unit.
• The store did not show any wholesale losses on the books. I was mystified, although a deeper discussion revealed that “packs” and “moving money around” likely masked the true wholesale loss picture.
• The store had not taken any steps to acquire inventory beyond a local auction or two-despite acknowledging that more aggressive sourcing was likely needed.
dalepollak.com, Velocity | DalePollak.com
Take special note of the last two points. We work with hundreds of dealers who found a solution to these issues in the Dealerslink Marketplace. These dealers utilize a hungry market to move their older or slower stuff with out incurring auction risk or fees. On the flip-side, why haven't you taken advantage of 13 states and 300 dealership inventories to source units "beyond a local auction or two"?
I read Dale's Velocity Blog every day it updates. It's amazing how often I think, "Exactly, Dealerslink offers a solution to that problem."
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