F&I and Showroom, November 2013

Industry Summit the main objective is to sway the F I managers OptionSofts Tomaro offered another take What we fi nd is that if we can allow them the fl exibility to have the mobile presentation without taking away their other tools gradually theyll start to fi gure out how they can use the mobile tools over time he said Small Steps Maxim turned philosophical when he described technologys true promise which is to drive better more effi cient customer interactions presentations and processes Panelists said existing technology is already delivering on most of those promises but they admitted that better customer interactions will continue to be a moving target In response their companies are building consumer facing tools on top of centralized platforms that house their F I menus reporting tools and e retailing solutions allowing them enough fl exibility to test new ways to deliver the F I presentation They acknowledge however that not every F I offi ce is taking advantage Our software is nothing more than a wrench in your service department Tomaro explained We can help you put the process in We can help you create a level of expectation that the consumer can enjoy But we cant turn the wrench for you Maxim took it a step further sharing results of the companys recent study of 22000 transactions involving his fi rms cloud based F I menu system Seventy three percent of participating dealers increased acceptance rates on service contracts by 32 percent for new cars and 33 percent for used The average dealership he added increased its F I profi tability by about 450000 per year with lifts in profi t per vehicle retailed PVR of 302 on new cars and 205 on used A separate study of 350000 transactions over a three year period found a 45 percent lift in same store sales The technology because its constantly utilized in those processes really 34 F I and Showroom November 2013 does make the difference because its repeatable its sustainable its something that can be counted on Maxim said Sticky Tech Nowicki offered several examples of current tools that were slow to take off the companys SmartEye solution being one such example When we introduced SmartEye in 2001 my boss said I was crazy he said The transaction based video and audio recording system was developed at the request of a San Antonio based dealer group More than 155000 recordings and 10 years later Nowicki said the group has achieved a consistent 300 increase in PVR Separate from the PVR increase the group also avoided countless lawsuits has countersued dealers and had the FBI involved in cases where customers were defrauding the dealerships Nowicki said Nowicki pointed to the companys launch of its e contracting initiative back in 2007 as another example It was slow to take off and even Nowicki had his doubts about the strategy Thats not the case today he said The Impact Groups Cobelli described a similar experience with the e contracting capabilities equipping his companys fl agship FUSION menu Today he hears stories like the one involving a large dealer group in New York Before adopting the FUSION menu the operation was consistently seeing a 25 to 30 percent variance in service contracts processed through its prior system which required manual data entry Since implementing the FUSION menu the group has reduced that variance by 10 percent Who of us here today can imagine going without the Internet for a week a month Cobelli asked Weve come to depend on it completely E rating and e contracting are indispensable now where it was really edgy and new not too long ago The Next Wave There is one area execs admit their companies have yet to seriously address the Internet shopper who wants to avoid the dealership altogether And the panel appeared divided on whether services like GoToMeeting and WebEx represent the answer to such customers People not only want to do their research on the car at home they want to complete that entire transaction online Cobelli said So leveraging those tools like GoToMeeting and WebEx can accommodate that customers desire without giving up the control the fi nance manager needs But Stenjskal warned that web conferencing tools wont quite cut it with customers who want a completely different car shopping experience online The consumer is looking for something different than what they might get from an in store or just a WebEx presentation he said noting that FinanceDriver an online credit application that can route apps directly to the fi nance source represents one of the solutions Dealertrack released to address that situation Weve started to help customers to desk their own deal at some level but still within the dealers control Keeping Pace Wilson closed the discussion with a simple question Have we outpaced the dealer The panels response was that dealers risk becoming obsolete if they dont catch up Consumers are expecting this stuff today honestly Nowicki said Inevitably new technology will be adopted Panelists however said theyre not designing their solutions in a vacuum Nowicki noting that IAS conducts a road show every year to get feedback from agents across the country on new solutions and ideas Similarly OptionSoft turns to its council of 44 dealers for guidance Ultimately execs said technology is only as good as the person using it We can make a good F I manager better we can make a great F I manager surgical Tomaro said but were just never going to take that bad F I manager and make him good