Digital Dealer
Dealership 2003: A Look Into the Future of Our Business
By Todd Smith
The big question on everyone's mind these days is, "What's with this crazy Internet thing?" Some dealers are doing well, while others can't even get started. Today I want to give you a perspective of how not only the Internet, but technology in general is changing our business and also give you an insider's view of what and how the dealership of the future will look like and operate. As we move into the digital economy, no area of the business economy will be left unturned, including the automotive industry, which until recently has gone virtually unchanged over the past 100 years.
The Internet will either be the lifeline of your dealership or the noose that will hang you.
The Internet will become the gateway of communication with your prospects, customers and suppliers alike. To expand upon that thought, envision the Internet as a showroom where you can engage prospects, deal with customers in real time using voice, chat and video and manage your entire dealership, including inventory and personnel, right from your desktop computer. When you hire a new person at your store, they'll sit down at a terminal, order their business cards, get set up for payroll, modify or create their 401k and any other administrative work necessary to become a functional employee. They will also take a test to determine their product knowledge and sales aptitude and from this test result they will be required to take courses at your dealership university. Training your staff will never be easier; they will sit down at a computer and learn from the best instructors from around the world in a virtual live classroom. You'll track every employee's training to determine if they are qualified to perform their job efficiently and effectively. Continuing education will play a powerful new role in the success of your dealership. The dealership of the future will turn into a learning organization.
Using the Internet, you'll put out for bid all the dealership services and products you frequently order to maintain a cost savings. This will allow you to run a more lean and focused business by leveraging technology to do the mundane tasks.
Everything in your dealership will be tied together into powerful intranet that is designed to give you a 360-degree view of your operation at any point in time or from any location around the world. You'll not only be able to see financial, employee and customer data, but every other pertinent piece of information that will allow you to operate a successful dealership. You'll use this data and compare it to historic data or future trend information to make sure you are on target to reach your objectives-all in easy-to-read charts and reports. You will monitor your inventory and compare it to auction prices in real time to ensure you are cost competitive, and these changing figures will instantly update your consumer Web site pricing to create a more dynamic pricing model for your local area consumers. Over-aged or non-productive units will get wholesaled right from your lot-without ever going to an actual auction-through an online global auction network, thereby reducing your used vehicle department operating expenses.
Picture a prospect going to your Web site and not only checking available inventory, but what is in transport and when it will arrive since you're tied into logistic software that tracks your inventory from the factory to your dealership in real time, live over the Internet. If they don't see exactly what they want, they can place an order that will be directly slotted into production at the factory, which in turn will arrive at the dealership within seven working days. During the entire process of building the car the customer will get updates and be able to see their vehicle during production, transport and local dealership delivery.
Making service appointments online will be tied directly into your dealership operating system so your appointment book is updated instantly. As recalls come out, the computer searches your customer database and automatically e-mails everyone who is affected and gives them three possible appointments to have their vehicle fixed. Scheduling will be automated enough that consumers will diagnosis their own vehicles through a series of questions linked into a database that determines the vehicle problems and automatically schedules the needed amount of time to make the repairs. Your computer will automatically manage your customer relationship by utilizing a technique called relational data mining to determine what the customer will buy and when, based on past experience and interaction with the customer. Road-side service will hit a new level when your dealership computer system will be able to dial up to any customer's car and do a preliminary evaluation to determine what is the problem and preorder any parts that would be necessary if the dealer doesn't have them in stock. Envision a parts department with virtually zero inventory because you have them delivered just in time through a parts network over the Internet right when you need them.
The future enterprise will be a smaller facility with less staff and more focused around customer care and service than sales. You will keep less inventory, enabling you to have a greater turn rate, increasing bottom line profits while your in-stock inventory will greater reflect your local consumer market buying habits based on collected real time data from motor vehicle registrations and local area vehicle requests from the Internet. Your dealership will sell more cars than you thought was possible, leveraging technology to streamline processes that where normally carried out by people. Most, if not all, of this technology is here today, but will take time and effort to implement it into your current operations. The future is all around us. Now is the time to make it work for us.
