Comments on: Dale loves to hear from you… http://www.dalepollak.com Used Car Market - A Guide for Success Sun, 05 Feb 2012 19:04:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Dale Pollak http://www.dalepollak.com/about-dale-pollak/comment-page-2/#comment-22583 Dale Pollak Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:33:00 +0000 http://www.dalepollak.com/?page_id=42#comment-22583 Mike, I’m thrilled to learn that you’ve discovered Provision. I’ve been saying for some time now that this new system is a game-changer, and I’m now beginning to receive that type of validation, like yours, from the marketplace. In fact, just in the last ½ hour, I showed our performance managers an incredible new enhancement called Advanced Workbench. Without going into a lot of detail here, it literally allows an inventory manager to genetically engineer his inventory based on attributes that are most important, like demand, interest, profitability, volume or the like. The experience of seeing the cars in the market that possess those attributes that are most important to you must be like the scientist that first looked into an electron microscope. It will absolutely blow you away when you see it. Regarding your question about Provision’s bid guidance. To be clear, bid guidance is just that, “guidance”. The bid guidance is an amount that you can justify paying in order to cover your cost of acquisition, reconditioning, profit objective and price the vehicle in the market at the exact dollar amount that will create the most immediate amount of consumer attention. That doesn’t mean however, that you can’t justify paying more for the right car assuming you’re willing to either sacrifice some of your profit objective or price competitiveness. With the assistance of executives at Manheim, I’m currently working on strategies and tools that will provide vAuto provision users an advantage when proxy bidding. While I can’t control the prices in the market, I can provide meaningful information and useful tools that will help you place proxy bids that are more likely to win vehicles. There will be much more to come on this issue in the future, so stay tuned. In the meantime, be mindful of the bid guidance, but be prepared to pay more for the right vehicle. Finally, regarding your suggestion about notes on the favorites page, I’m not sure if the system allows for this functionality at the present time. Please check with your performance manager and let me know. Mike, once again I just want to say thank you for your note and for the intellectual contributions that you and your group have provided us during our partnership. Stay in touch. Dale Mike,

I’m thrilled to learn that you’ve discovered Provision. I’ve been saying for some time now that this new system is a game-changer, and I’m now beginning to receive that type of validation, like yours, from the marketplace. In fact, just in the last ½ hour, I showed our performance managers an incredible new enhancement called Advanced Workbench. Without going into a lot of detail here, it literally allows an inventory manager to genetically engineer his inventory based on attributes that are most important, like demand, interest, profitability, volume or the like. The experience of seeing the cars in the market that possess those attributes that are most important to you must be like the scientist that first looked into an electron microscope. It will absolutely blow you away when you see it.

Regarding your question about Provision’s bid guidance. To be clear, bid guidance is just that, “guidance”. The bid guidance is an amount that you can justify paying in order to cover your cost of acquisition, reconditioning, profit objective and price the vehicle in the market at the exact dollar amount that will create the most immediate amount of consumer attention. That doesn’t mean however, that you can’t justify paying more for the right car assuming you’re willing to either sacrifice some of your profit objective or price competitiveness.

With the assistance of executives at Manheim, I’m currently working on strategies and tools that will provide vAuto provision users an advantage when proxy bidding. While I can’t control the prices in the market, I can provide meaningful information and useful tools that will help you place proxy bids that are more likely to win vehicles. There will be much more to come on this issue in the future, so stay tuned. In the meantime, be mindful of the bid guidance, but be prepared to pay more for the right vehicle.

Finally, regarding your suggestion about notes on the favorites page, I’m not sure if the system allows for this functionality at the present time. Please check with your performance manager and let me know.

Mike, once again I just want to say thank you for your note and for the intellectual contributions that you and your group have provided us during our partnership. Stay in touch.

Dale

]]> By: Mike http://www.dalepollak.com/about-dale-pollak/comment-page-2/#comment-22582 Mike Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:14:00 +0000 http://www.dalepollak.com/?page_id=42#comment-22582 V-auto on steroids otherwise known as “Provisions” right? Hi Dale, we have waited about 90 days to let what we thought would be the dust to settle around the new Provision product. We should have known better than to wait. We are two days into this new tool and all I can say is am disappointed that we waited so long. Our buyer Andrea just bought our first vehicle on through a proxy bid with this new remarkable tool at 91% price to market and 76% cost to market with $2000 in recon, our pack, transportation, and margin included. Now I will never get sleep knowing we can buy like this. This new tool is worth its weight in gold solely based on the ease of selection. We have one buyer that works diligently every day to fulfill our procurement needs, Provisions has just brought her efficiency and effectiveness to new level.   Although we are in the early stages of using Provisions, we think we understand the fundamentals of this tool. We could however use some help or guidance on a question. In addition, of course we have one suggestion.   The question is what factors into the suggested bid price? Based on our historical bidding standards for margin, recon, transportation and fixed pack, most of the recommended bids are below what we would have likely bid on the same vehicle. As a note, all of our settings remain on original default recommendations. Just for the record I am not complaining about getting vehicles for less, the issue is that we do not want to pass or under bid a vehicle due to lack of understanding.   Regarding the suggestion, it would be helpful to have an area for notes on each vehicle saved in favorites. If this exists today, we cannot find it.   Thanks again for all you do.    V-auto on steroids otherwise known as “Provisions” right? Hi Dale, we have waited about 90 days to let what we thought would be the dust to settle around the new Provision product. We should have known better than to wait. We are two days into this new tool and all I can say is am disappointed that we waited so long. Our buyer Andrea just bought our first vehicle on through a proxy bid with this new remarkable tool at 91% price to market and 76% cost to market with $2000 in recon, our pack, transportation, and margin included. Now I will never get sleep knowing we can buy like this. This new tool is worth its weight in gold solely based on the ease of selection. We have one buyer that works diligently every day to fulfill our procurement needs, Provisions has just brought her efficiency and effectiveness to new level.
 
Although we are in the early stages of using Provisions, we think we understand the fundamentals of this tool. We could however use some help or guidance on a question. In addition, of course we have one suggestion.
 
The question is what factors into the suggested bid price? Based on our historical bidding standards for margin, recon, transportation and fixed pack, most of the recommended bids are below what we would have likely bid on the same vehicle. As a note, all of our settings remain on original default recommendations. Just for the record I am not complaining about getting vehicles for less, the issue is that we do not want to pass or under bid a vehicle due to lack of understanding.
 
Regarding the suggestion, it would be helpful to have an area for notes on each vehicle saved in favorites. If this exists today, we cannot find it.
 
Thanks again for all you do.
  

]]> By: Dale Pollak http://www.dalepollak.com/about-dale-pollak/comment-page-2/#comment-22567 Dale Pollak Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:29:00 +0000 http://www.dalepollak.com/?page_id=42#comment-22567 Frankie, Thank you very much for your interest and enthusiasm for vAuto. Yes, we are always interested in talking to talented people about prospective employment. Please send me a resume. Also, please feel free to send me an email directly (dpollak@vauto.com) so that I can review your ideas/thoughts to make vAuto better. Again, thanks. Dale Frankie,

Thank you very much for your interest and enthusiasm for vAuto. Yes, we are always interested in talking to talented people about prospective employment. Please send me a resume. Also, please feel free to send me an email directly (dpollak@vauto.com) so that I can review your ideas/thoughts to make vAuto better.

Again, thanks.

Dale

]]> By: Frankiec21 http://www.dalepollak.com/about-dale-pollak/comment-page-2/#comment-22566 Frankiec21 Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:36:00 +0000 http://www.dalepollak.com/?page_id=42#comment-22566 Hi Dale,    I was recently employed as a Used Car Mgr. at a dealership in Pittsburgh, Pa.. I was so impressed with VAUTO.  I've become an advocate. I've been out of work since leaving there in Nov.. I would like to know what I could do to become part of the VAUTO group.  I Know I would be a great asset to you and your company.   If there are no openings at this time, I would like to know if you have to be a dealer to purchase your monthly program. Also, I have Ideas I think we should talk about that would enhance your product.  I would appreciate a chance to chat with you.                                                                      Thank you, Hi Dale,
   I was recently employed as a Used Car Mgr. at a dealership in Pittsburgh, Pa.. I was so impressed with VAUTO.  I’ve become an advocate. I’ve been out of work since leaving there in Nov.. I would like to know what I could do to become part of the VAUTO group.  I Know I would be a great asset to you and your company.
  If there are no openings at this time, I would like to know if you have to be a dealer to purchase your monthly program. Also, I have Ideas I think we should talk about that would enhance your product.  I would appreciate a chance to chat with you.

                                                                     Thank you,

]]> By: Dale Pollak http://www.dalepollak.com/about-dale-pollak/comment-page-2/#comment-22565 Dale Pollak Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:32:00 +0000 http://www.dalepollak.com/?page_id=42#comment-22565 I’m really not sure about best practice for getting positive reviews on-line. Perhaps some of our other blog visitors can share their best practices. One thing I would say however, and that is that I would not offer incentives to customers of positive reviews. It’s OK to ask, but I would not offer outright incentives to do so. You might want to reward sales or service personnel for positive reviews; however I would advise that you stop there with incentives. Thanks, Dale I’m really not sure about best practice for getting positive reviews on-line. Perhaps some of our other blog visitors can share their best practices.

One thing I would say however, and that is that I would not offer incentives to customers of positive reviews. It’s OK to ask, but I would not offer outright incentives to do so. You might want to reward sales or service personnel for positive reviews; however I would advise that you stop there with incentives.

Thanks,

Dale

]]> By: Dale Pollak http://www.dalepollak.com/about-dale-pollak/comment-page-2/#comment-22563 Dale Pollak Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:25:00 +0000 http://www.dalepollak.com/?page_id=42#comment-22563 Thanks for the question. The first thing that I’d like to state is that dealers should separate the notion of the physical front line from the virtual front line. Best practice is to have your vehicles on-line with a price, description and photo within one working day. This raises your question of how to get quality images before the vehicle has been fully prepared for the physical front line. The answer is that you do the best you can. Many dealers will take a recently acquired car and give it good wash, and then take a limited number of photos from the most favorable perspective and distance that best represents the vehicle. Once the vehicle is detailed, final photos are taken and those photos replace the earlier ones. While this photo strategy is not ideal, it is far superior than waiting several more days until the car is ready for the physical front line. I also want to take this opportunity to address what I think is best practice for getting the vehicle to the physical front line. I think that two working days is the max providing there is no body work, and four if the vehicle needs to go through the body shop. If you can’t get cars ready for the physical front line on these time schedules, then you need to figure out what changes need to be made to do so. Every single day that a vehicle is not on your virtual and front line for sale, you lose money. Unfortunately for our industry, this loss doesn’t show up in a line item on your financial statement. If it did, dealers would be much more determined to get it done faster. Hope this helps. Thanks, Dale Thanks for the question. The first thing that I’d like to state is that dealers should separate the notion of the physical front line from the virtual front line. Best practice is to have your vehicles on-line with a price, description and photo within one working day. This raises your question of how to get quality images before the vehicle has been fully prepared for the physical front line. The answer is that you do the best you can. Many dealers will take a recently acquired car and give it good wash, and then take a limited number of photos from the most favorable perspective and distance that best represents the vehicle. Once the vehicle is detailed, final photos are taken and those photos replace the earlier ones. While this photo strategy is not ideal, it is far superior than waiting several more days until the car is ready for the physical front line.

I also want to take this opportunity to address what I think is best practice for getting the vehicle to the physical front line. I think that two working days is the max providing there is no body work, and four if the vehicle needs to go through the body shop. If you can’t get cars ready for the physical front line on these time schedules, then you need to figure out what changes need to be made to do so. Every single day that a vehicle is not on your virtual and front line for sale, you lose money. Unfortunately for our industry, this loss doesn’t show up in a line item on your financial statement. If it did, dealers would be much more determined to get it done faster. Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Dale

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.dalepollak.com/about-dale-pollak/comment-page-2/#comment-22562 Anonymous Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:08:00 +0000 http://www.dalepollak.com/?page_id=42#comment-22562 Thank you for your answer. How would you encourage a team who isn't used to pushing reviews online? Contact solid customers or ask sales to ask new customers to review? Incentives to each? Service seems like the best option? Thanks again Thank you for your answer. How would you encourage a team who isn’t used to pushing reviews online? Contact solid customers or ask sales to ask new customers to review? Incentives to each? Service seems like the best option? Thanks again

]]> By: Dale Pollak http://www.dalepollak.com/about-dale-pollak/comment-page-2/#comment-22558 Dale Pollak Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:21:00 +0000 http://www.dalepollak.com/?page_id=42#comment-22558 Thanks so much for your question. Yes, I believe that actual consumer reviews about your dealership are important and will be even more so in the future. I also think that they will help SRP to VDP conversions, particularly if the third-party classified advertising sites features or links to such reviews. Thanks for your question and stay in touch. Dale Thanks so much for your question. Yes, I believe that actual consumer reviews about your dealership are important and will be even more so in the future. I also think that they will help SRP to VDP conversions, particularly if the third-party classified advertising sites features or links to such reviews.

Thanks for your question and stay in touch.

Dale

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.dalepollak.com/about-dale-pollak/comment-page-2/#comment-22557 Anonymous Wed, 11 Jan 2012 21:46:00 +0000 http://www.dalepollak.com/?page_id=42#comment-22557 Dale, How important do you think online reviews are? Is it worth asking customers that appear satisfied to review the company on certain sites to increase the amount and quality of reviews? Will this help the SRP to VDP conversion? Enjoyed your book and thank you for your time. Dale,
How important do you think online reviews are? Is it worth asking customers that appear satisfied to review the company on certain sites to increase the amount and quality of reviews? Will this help the SRP to VDP conversion? Enjoyed your book and thank you for your time.

]]> By: Dale Pollak http://www.dalepollak.com/about-dale-pollak/comment-page-2/#comment-22556 Dale Pollak Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:08:00 +0000 http://www.dalepollak.com/?page_id=42#comment-22556 Chris, Congratulations on your promotion. It is not only possible to sell 100 units with 85-100 on the ground, but it is common among dealers that subscribe to the Velocity Method of Management. In fact, today, I could show you a thousand of dealerships that consistently sell 150 retail per month with only 100 on the ground at any given time. Such performances however require a deep understanding of Velocity methodology and stellar execution and discipline. From an ROI perspective, I think the best way to measure return on investment is to compare your total used vehicle gross profit (front, back and reconditioning) relative to your average monthly inventory investment. Finally, regarding your question on spreadsheets, I’ve made my life’s work developing systems and tools to achieve high ROI Velocity results. vAuto is what I believe to be a best-of-breed system and tools for achieving Velocity success. If you haven’t seen the system, and would like to do so, please send me an email and I’ll have one of our product specialists contact you. Please stay in touch and let me know how you’re doing. Thanks, Dale Chris,

Congratulations on your promotion. It is not only possible to sell 100 units with 85-100 on the ground, but it is common among dealers that subscribe to the Velocity Method of Management. In fact, today, I could show you a thousand of dealerships that consistently sell 150 retail per month with only 100 on the ground at any given time.

Such performances however require a deep understanding of Velocity methodology and stellar execution and discipline. From an ROI perspective, I think the best way to measure return on investment is to compare your total used vehicle gross profit (front, back and reconditioning) relative to your average monthly inventory investment.

Finally, regarding your question on spreadsheets, I’ve made my life’s work developing systems and tools to achieve high ROI Velocity results. vAuto is what I believe to be a best-of-breed system and tools for achieving Velocity success. If you haven’t seen the system, and would like to do so, please send me an email and I’ll have one of our product specialists contact you. Please stay in touch and let me know how you’re doing.

Thanks,
Dale

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