F&I and Showroom, March 2018

www fi magazine com 14 F I and Showroom March 2018 Wade Ford arose With the blessing of his wife Terri and their two children he sold the Champion stores and prepared to move south He says he knew the big market big box been theresince 1933 Wade Ford was a step up and he was determined to make it work I went in trusting the processes but the reality was I bought a very good company with dedicated and extremely competent employees I had to adapt my management style to fit in with the team and I was able to do that Ewing says And Im a big team guy I love sports Its really important to me that my employees understand we are all on a team and everyone has to do their job GET CONNECTED As reported by F I and Showrooms Gregory Arroyo last years Consumer Electronics Show was a hotbed of new in vehicle technology The Connected Car Opportunity August 2017 Page 16 Among the representative companies were brands familiar to dealers including Spireon and CalAmp LoJack But vehicle manufacturers continue to push for greater connectivity with their customers As Arroyo reported General Motors OnStar brand now boasts 12 million users globally about half of which are fleet customers and every major brand but Honda offers a factory branded cellular based telematics platform Those factories face stiff competition and Steve Ewing knows it He was an early adopter of SAVY a dealerbranded mobile app suite that provides comprehensive inventory and lot management and connects their customers to the dealership and to their vehicles through a device that plugs into the OBD II port or is installed behind the dash Sold customers get a full demo of the Wade Ford app which they can use to set sales and service appointments locate their vehicle set teen driver alerts and run a virtual diagnostic check among other features SAVY is now preloaded on every vehicle in Wade Fords inventory Customers can choose to keep it for five years They started offering it on Jan 19 and achieved 55 penetration in the first 30 days Their goal is a consistent penetration rate of 70 From the time they purchase the car they have a connection Ewing says and that connection is valuable Every day a customer can open up their app and look at the different pieces the fuel their battery level run a health check on their car Of no less interest to Ewing are SAVYs dealer facing tools He and his managers can get a snapshot of Wades inventory look up vehicles by stock number or VIN to locate them read details check and receive alerts for low fuel or battery and more They are also using SAVY to create and broadcast service specials helping them maintain an edge over competing dealerships and shops EasyCares chairman and CEO and Ewings frequent collaborator Larry Dorfman said SAVY was developed in part to streamline and improve the sales process and benefit F I He wants to connect the online and instore experiences allowing dealers to reward and capitalize upon the enthusiasm customers bring to the showroom They come in excited because they think they know what car they want Dorfman says Its the zero moment of truth What happens if their first interaction is with a person who hasnt got a clue Dorfman says he spent several months asking dealers how long it takes before their newly arrived customers see the car they picked out online The average was about 20 minutes The longest reported wait was two hours We can cut an hour out of the process Half the time is spent negotiating the deal The other half is finding the damn car SERVICE FIRST Dorfman says he is grateful for Ewings partnership and proximity He describes him as the first to raise his hand when he is offered the chance to try anything that makes sense for his dealership or his customers For Ewing SAVY is only one in a string of experiments to drive greater used car and service revenue In 2013 and 2014 we went through a major renovation on the sales side and a minor renovation for service he says and a service expansion is next We are in the design phase of what would be an 18 bay expansion Right now internally we have 26 After racking up nearly 30 years as a dealer and with 85 years of Wade Ford history behind him Ewing says he has been in the business he loves long enough to make an educated guess at the future Sales will go up and down service revenue will smooth out the waves and staying connected with customers will be paramount When the economy gets tighter people will hold onto their cars longer and make sure theyre maintained We have to be user friendly and cost competitive Adding the app and constantly reviewing service pricing between the two gives us an advantage We can smother our customers with as little or as much service as they would like Customers of Wade Ford are introduced to and offered the opportunity to purchase SAVY a dealership branded mobile app with a long list of driver and dealer facing features DEALER PROFILE