This is always a tricky time of the year.
It is not unusual for “Fall Optimism” to come back to haunt you when “Winter Reality” sets in.
After several record profit months, it’s easy to get high on our new founded mentality of standing tall and asking for “all the money.”
Sure, you can hold that unit longer…ahhh, maybe not.
Often there’s a disconnect between the desired goals and the skill level of those who have been put in charge of obtaining the numbers we need.
Are you ready? Is the team ready? Are you ready for the fall and winter?
It’s important to know what you deserve for any given car or truck on your lot. Knowing and understanding that is based on two parts:
Data.
Common sense.
Knowing and getting what you deserve means having a true understanding of the market and every unit on your lot. They are all different, yet we often treat them all the same. It’s knowing when to fish or cut bait.
Yes, even in this wacky market there’s a time to cash in and make certain units go away.
6 Bullet Points To Help You:
1. Redundant Training- It ain’t redundant until you’re perfect. You’re used car department isn’t perfect. Don’t confuse getting lucky and today’s unusual market with your management skills. You’d be far better off thinking you’ve recently gotten lucky than thinking you’ve figured it out. Maybe you have and maybe you haven’t. Now is the time to amp up the training for your entire team.
2. Rolling 30-Day Sales Travel Rate-Pay close attention to the number of units you currently have in stock vs. the number of units you have sold over the last 30 days. You may even want to view it over the last 15 days. Almost without exception, we are seeing inventories starting to outpace the sales travel rates. If you’re using our UpYourGross software tool, it’s right there on the scoreboard page for you to see.
3. Ask For More On The Right Units- Keep in mind the word lucky. You’ve recently gotten lucky on some units. Betting on lucky will not serve you well.
Yes, there are some that you need to start way high. Some very low. My UpYourGross software will help you know which units are which.
Once in a while, you gotta “ask for it all.” You can’t hit it out of the park if you don’t take a full swing. If it’s a low mileage, really nice car you deserve more money for it.
4. Not selling in Today’s Market-Your most profitable car is a 20-day car. If you are retailing a lot of cars at the 30, 45, 60 plus day mark, you don’t have a chance. Speed wins; the lack of speed kills.
Start charting those units that you sell at 45 days and beyond to see what they are doing to your average gross profit? In the movie “A Few Good Men,” Jack Nicholson might have been talking about you. You can’t handle the truth.
5. Lack of quantity and quality of photos –stop reading this. Go look at the used cars on your website. How hard is it to maneuver through your website? And, if you don’t have a photo booth, you cannot be competitive in today’s market. It’s an investment you can no longer afford to avoid.
6. Use Early Warning Radar-You have to be able to spot a problem child on day one, not day 61. Every one of your aged units (Your oldest unit is an aged unit) has a story to go with it. That story started back on day one and somebody wasn’t paying attention.
Fix your Radar system and your used car operation will become more efficient and more profitable.
You get what you deserve when you do the work to deserve what you get.
That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs