F&I and Showroom, April 2014

decades ago It was more of an evolution vs a light bulb going on she says All the pieces started to fi t together and I could see how that was going to work I think its an exciting time and now is not a time to pull back and put your head in the sand she adds Its coming and its exciting April 2014 F I and Showroom 21 The industry average according to ChannelNet is 46 We saw the need for dealers to have a more consumer friendly application explains Todd Mason chief product and marketing offi cer for RouteOne noting that RouteOnes compliance team revamped the legal disclosures to make them easier for customers to understand When we were designing the overall product it was about breaking it down so instead of the consumer being presented with a long list of fi elds which is very daunting we break it into smallsize chunks Mason stresses that the goal of FinanceConnect was to help car buyers transition seamlessly from dealer sites to the showroom The tools we provide help dealers support the experience the consumer wants which can often start on the dealers website and fi nish in his or her brick andmortar store Mason adds Tompkins believes the F I offi ce stands to benefi t the most from the tool Anything that can give the F I manager more time with the customer is hugely important she says Digital Disruption The customer experience was top of mind at the 2014 Vehicle Finance Conference an event organized annually by the American Financial Services Association One of the featured speakers at this years conference which was held in New Orleans in January was Brian Hopkins principal analyst for Forrester Research He said theres a shift in how companies view technologys role in retail transactions Technology has been about doing things cheaper faster and more effectively Hopkins said The age of the consumer has changed that The age of the consumer according to Hopkins began in 2010 Thats when the Internet and the devices used to access it began empowering buyers But he says key developments in 2013 including the realization that apps not the platform or device are what drive the experience set the table for important changes in 2014 To compete in the age of the customer you need to use data Hopkins said noting that companies now realize that much of the customer behavior data that can guide their customer lifecycle management strategies can be found on their websites Tompkins came to that realization