In the dynamic landscape of corporate leadership, women are increasingly making significant strides and leaving an indelible mark on the business world. Solera is dedicated to supporting and empowering female leaders through multiple sponsorships, partnerships, and programs.

WDAR Sponsorship – NADA initiative to empower women in the retail automotive industry

As part of our ongoing commitment to supporting women leaders, Solera is proudly sponsoring the Women Driving Auto Retail (WDAR) networking event on February 1st in Las Vegas, NV. This sponsorship is a testament to our strong support of WDAR’s mission, which aims to amplify female voices and increase employment in dealerships, helping to foster their leadership growth.

Women in Solera (WINS) Leadership Academy – Exclusive, transformative employee program

On its third annual cohort, the Women in Solera (WINS) leadership academy focuses on achieving sustainable development through embracing change, continuously practicing, and then reflecting. Founded by Jing Liao, Chief Administration Officer at Solera, the program now extends globally to 820+ women in Solera management plus all women in technology and product functions. Through consistent, intentional sharing of the Solera leadership playbook, Jing and her team elevate all leaders and cultivate a culture of constant learning and growth.

WOCAN Support – Lending strong female voices to other women of color

And Solera’s dedication extends beyond its own female leaders. Jing also shared her story and journey to the top as the featured speaker on a recent WOCAN (Women of Color Automotive Network) virtual event. As part of the WOCAN Speaker Series, featuring successful women of color in the automotive industry, Jing’s insights and experience undoubtedly enriched the discussion on empowering women in leadership roles.

Now join us on a journey of empowerment as we showcase a few of the remarkable women leaders driving innovation and making a lasting impact at Solera. Here’s a quick glimpse into the inspiring paths of some of our key leaders within the WINS academy:

Thuy Adomitis – Inspiring Diversity and Leading with Purpose

An award-winning seasoned leader, Thuy Adomitis, is currently the VP of Key Accounts/Vehicle Solutions at Solera. She’s spent the last two decades shaping the industry with CarsDirect and TrueCar before Solera. As a female Asian American, she acknowledges the scarcity of representation in the automotive sector, yet her goal is to motivate others – especially women – to pursue their dreams fearlessly. “I am a female Asian leader. If you look around at the automotive landscape, our numbers are miniscule,” shares Thuy. “My hope is that I have motivated some to take the leap in their careers and fight for their spot at the table. My goal is to pull each and everyone of them up through the ranks and not let them sit there in fear.” Her work style is a blend of transformational and servant leadership, with a commitment to motivating and inspiring change as she clears the way for her team’s success. “Driving change requires major commitment and I’m here for it! There is a joy there that I get from helping my team to exceed their goals,” she says. Her future aspirations include being a transformation agent, propelling the current business to greater heights while expanding opportunities for diversity and inclusion.

Jenna Smith – Navigating Success with Grace and Grit

Meet Jenna Smith, Vice President of Sales & Operations for Solera’s RedCap solutions, a powerhouse in the SaaS/automotive industry. “I love building and growing connections and am passionate about investing in the personal and professional growth of others,” says Jenna. Her focus on enhancing the customer experience has left an indelible mark on RedCap. “I truly believe we are paving a path to change the industry,” Jenna shares. “My advice to young women aspiring to leadership roles is to believe in yourself and build a village of mentors, role models, and peers that will support and champion you throughout your professional growth,” says Jenna. “Don’t be afraid to promote yourself with open and honest communication with your peers and superiors.”

Natalie Hill – Roadmap to Triumph in Technology

As Senior Director of Key Accounts at Solera, Natalie Hill’s career with the AutoPoint solutions suite demonstrates her resilience, leadership, and unwavering commitment to growth. She views her employees as teachers as well as learners. “I truly value the mutual exchange of knowledge and insights with my team members,” she says. “My advice to young women is to focus on becoming the best version of yourself, rather than comparing yourself to others,” says Natalie. Fueled by perpetual curiosity, Natalie is focused on learning, connecting with inspirational leaders, and acquiring fresh skills to grow in her field. “I view my role here at Solera as a privilege, and I am eagerly anticipating what lies ahead for the company, myself, and the other talented women in leadership.”

Jenny Larkin – Driving Change in Innovation

As National Director of DealerSocket CRM at Solera, Jenny Larkin is a beacon of innovation and inspiration. Jenny’s career has been punctuated by challenges, from breaking gender norms in the fleet business to mastering the intricacies of dealership service operations. Her approach to overcoming obstacles is grounded in staying focused, continuous learning, attentive listening, and an unwavering pursuit of goals. She finds fulfillment in mentoring other women and guiding them to successful careers. “Embrace change, stay up-to-date, and adapt to keep growing,” she says. “I believe in leveraging diverse perspectives to drive innovation and success. By spreading awareness and advocating for more initiatives like WINS, we can create a workplace where all individuals feel empowered to contribute their unique perspectives and talents.”

As we celebrate the diversity of thought, innovation, and leadership that these women bring to the industry, we also look forward to more valuable insights our female leaders will continue sharing through WINS and the close relationship with WOCAN. Solera’s commitment to these programs and partnerships reflects our dedication to supporting and empowering women leaders, fostering a world where talent knows no gender, and leadership knows no bounds.

DealerSocket’s Chief Product and Technology Officer Alok Tyagi recently grabbed the #2 spot in a list of the Top 25 Software Product Executives of 2021, ranked annually by The Software Report.

“I am thrilled to receive this honor and be recognized for the tremendous work we have done as a company in the last year to create a unified solution for our dealership customers,” said Tyagi. “Our software focus is on our ability to serve as the digital backbone of a connected dealership, improving productivity and guiding the customer journey from online to showroom.”

Tyagi joined DealerSocket in 2020, bringing more than 25 years of hands-on leadership experience in the technology industry. Tyagi’s expertise includes product strategy, product management, design and development of market-leading enterprise software products. His specialty is re-innovating existing product portfolios to improve the user experience.

Tyagi is a champion of digital transformation; someone who is known for taking the time to mentor entrepreneurs and advise start-up companies. Prior to joining DealerSocket, Tyagi was the chief technology officer at RealPage, a senior advisor on the product and technology council at Mainsail Partners, and chief product and technology officer at GTreasury. Tyagi has extensive experience leading CRM product organizations at industry-leading companies like Oracle, Peoplesoft, JDEdwards and Sage.

The Software Report’s annual list of Top 25 Software Product Executives honors individuals who are the driving force for software innovation, improved user experience and the genesis of company revenue growth and continuity. They have also notably led successful launches over the past year in response to evolving market demands.

By Darren Harris

In 2012, my then two-year-old son, Henry, wasn’t displaying the typical behavioral attributes of a child his age. He was avoiding direct eye contact, wasn’t talking, and was very sensitive to loud noises. My wife and I researched the internet and finally concluded to have him assessed for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Upon receiving the formal diagnosis of Autism, my wife and I began looking for answers and guidance on how to proceed moving forward. To say we were overwhelmed looking for answers would be a major understatement.

Since that time, we’ve learned much about Autism and how to help Henry have the most productive life possible. It hasn’t been an easy road, nor will it be in the future; however, diagnosing Henry when we did helped us provide early intervention, which sets him up for the best success possible.

Some of the things we’ve learned about Autism include:

(Source: www.autismspeaks.org)

Henry is the best part of our family. He loves drawing, movies, his mother and siblings, nature, maps, animals, state birds, state flowers, In-N-Out Burger, bacon, and hot dogs. His favorite animal is a platypus, and we are his biggest fans.

Join me in raising awareness today, April 2nd, by wearing blue and pointing people to the Autism Speaks website at www.autismspeaks.org, should they have any questions or want to learn more.

We continue to think about all of you, our customers and partners, during this difficult time. This pandemic has caused deep challenges across our industry and for all of us, and I hope you know that DealerSocket continues to be here for our dealers. Our goal has been to strike the right balance between being prepared for our dealers and the market when our industry recovers and offering discounts to help our dealers as much as possible during this difficult time. 

We will get through this, and we will get through this together. We are committed to fighting through this with you. We are beginning to see the first signs of positive trends as we climb out of the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this has us all hopeful for the future.

In April, we heavily discounted our software for our dealers. In addition to our discounts in April, we have decided to offer the following DealerSocket billing reductions for May for all of our dealers:

We have already sent out our May invoices, so next week you will receive a credit memo for the above discounts. With that said, similar to our discount package last month, there are some basic qualifying terms listed below.

In addition to these discounts in April and May, DealerSocket continues to offer our customers several promotions and free months of certain software products to help you navigate this crisis. Our offers include promotions for:

Since we are adding promotions and various resources for dealers often, please view DealerSocket’s latest information by clicking here, and, as always, please feel free to reach out to your Customer Success Manager with any questions or if we can help in any way:

If you are not yet an Auto/Mate DMS customer, I hope you know that we can reduce your DMS bill significantly during these challenging times as well as into the future by switching to Auto/Mate DMS. We have several bundled packages that include our Auto/Mate DMS product combined with other DealerSocket products to support you.

Thank you for partnering with DealerSocket. I hope you know how much we value and appreciate your loyalty, partnership, and your business.

I wish you, your families, and your team members health in these unprecedented times.

Sejal Pietrzak
CEO and President
DealerSocket
[email protected]

 

Details regarding our COVID-19 relief package:

We’re excited to announce that Steve Zadoorian and Dave Druzynski have both taken on new, expanded roles at DealerSocket! In their new positions, Steve and Dave will ensure that DealerSocket and Auto/Mate customers and employees continue to benefit from an emphasis on customer support and company culture.

Steve Zadoorian

Steve Zadoorian has been named Senior VP Operations and Customer Care at DealerSocket. In his new role, Steve will lead the Installations and Customer Support teams for both DealerSocket and Auto/Mate. Under Steve’s leadership, Auto/Mate achieved a customer retention rate above 95 percent and has received multiple consecutive DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction awards. Steve’s commitment to customer satisfaction has also helped to build Auto/Mate’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) to +59, a score that’s nearly double the software industry average of +31.

“My first goal is to integrate the support service teams so we have a common process; and also make sure we have a well-integrated and cohesive implementation process for new clients,” said Steve. “I look forward to bringing our teams and best practices together and ensuring that our customers remain highly satisfied.

Dave Druzynski has been named Vice President, People and Culture at DealerSocket.

Dave Druzynski

In his new role, Dave will oversee the development of company culture and employee satisfaction. Under Dave’s leadership, Auto/Mate has received ten consecutive “Best Place to Work” awards by the Albany Business Review, and nine consecutive “Top Workplaces” awards by The Times Union.

“Employee happiness has always been a high priority at Auto/Mate and I am thrilled to work with the DealerSocket team who shares that same belief. Rather than just have one company’s culture consume the other, we plan to identify the best aspects of both cultures and merge them together as one team,” said Dave.

Dave and Steve will continue to operate from DealerSocket’s Albany, NY office.

With threat actors working overtime, DealerSocket’s head of information security offers three tips to keep your dealership’s and your customers’ data protected.

By Gregory Arroyo

Greg Tatum has a warning for dealerships everywhere: Cyber threat actors are working overtime. Noting a definite uptick in suspicious activity since COVID-19 hit Europe in late February, he adds:

“Threat actors are actively searching for new targets through a number of different mediums. Things like social media platforms are a very popular target for information gathering that can be used in an attack.”

Tatum serves as DealerSocket’s head of information security. He joined DealerSocket nearly four years ago from a security services firm that works with companies in much more sensitive environments than automotive. I’m talking about healthcare and government contractors, sectors that see billions of attacks each year. So, yeah, we have the right guy on the job.

“DealerSocket spends a considerable amount of effort protecting our customers’ data,” he notes. “It’s part of what we do just to make sure our customers’ customers’ data is protected.”

Tatum isn’t the only one sounding the alarm. The FBI issued its own warning on March 20, noting that scammers are leveraging the COVID-19 pandemic to steal money, personal information, or both.

 

 

Just last week, the National Automobile Dealers Association reported that attackers are now putting up COVID-19-related websites that prompt visitors to download an application to receive COVID-19 updates. But you don’t need to download the app, as the site installs a malicious binary file as you contemplate whether you should.

The attack method uses AZORult, software that originated in Russia approximately four years ago to steal data and infect the breached computer with malware.

Tatum also alerted me to a new phishing campaign that pretends to be from a local hospital notifying recipients that they have been exposed to the Coronavirus and they need to be tested.

But it’s not just phishing and ransomware attacks. Business email compromise, or BEC, is also on the rise. That’s when a cyberthief breaks into a legitimate corporate email account and impersonates an employee to get the business, its partners, or other employees to send money or sensitive data to the attacker.

“In this climate we live in today, this is part of business,” Tatum says. “This is part of what we have to deal with as consumers of technology.”

Tatum, by the way, is available to help. He advises DealerSocket customers to contact their Customer Success Managers to get connected. In the meantime, he offers the following four tips to safeguard your organization and your customers’ data:

1. Stay Committed to General Security Awareness

The following is general security etiquette your teams should employ:

2. Separate Work and Personal Data

Use company-issued computers and mobile devices for work purposes only. If you don’t have a company-issued device, be sure to check your company’s policies about using personal devices to access your organization’s data or networks.

Additionally, consider creating separate user accounts. Never use your work email for personal reasons or vice-versa. This segregation helps the company maintain the confidentiality of the data it collects and helps you maintain your privacy.

3. Secure Your Home Network

Update your router’s username and password immediately and use a strong, unique password. And never use the same password for your network and your router. Note that most routers ship with default login credentials that are public knowledge.

4. Don’t Forget About Physical Security

The comfort of your own home is no reason to forget about physical security. Simple acts like keeping doors locked and not leaving mobile devices unattended in a vehicle are non-technical ways to improve security.

Gregory Arroyo is the former editor of “F&I and Showroom” and “Auto Dealer Today” magazines. He now serves as senior manager of strategic content for DealerSocket. Email him at [email protected].

Frank Scott, Senior Customer Success Manager

Frank Scott, Senior Customer Success Manager

Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL

I was born and raised in Fort Lauderdale. I love to play golf, fish, and root for the Florida State Seminoles!

What do you do at Dealersocket?

I consult with large dealer groups to improve their inventory management process and help them fully utilize our Inventory+ product. I’ve been in the industry for over 17 years.

What motivates you to wake up and go to work?

I really enjoy helping our customers gain data insight and sell more cars!

What has been your favorite project so far?

I was tasked to figure out how much one extra day to sell a vehicle would cost the dealer…turns out, its $74 per day.

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

I made a half-court shot at Harlem Globetrotter game in front of 15,000 people. I won two first class tickets to Asia.

What is an embarrassing, green pea moment you had when you were starting out?

When I first started out in the industry and was working at a dealership, I didn’t like the way the cars looked on the lot and, instead of going to GM and letting him know, I went to owner. The GM did NOT like me after that.

What is your favorite, or a secret, inventory management tip?

Do more appraisals and price the car right from day one!

In all great moments of history when everything seemed bleak and that the bad times would never end, they did. The question is, will you be prepared?

By Patrick Mendoza

I’m not going to sugarcoat this: The current situation is bad, and it’s going to get worse.

You’ve heard this a hundred times the past couple of weeks, but these truly are unprecedented times. I’ve never seen such a drop in both the stock market and consumer purchasing, and such a rise in unemployment and concern.

The fall due to the pandemic all happened very quickly. Just one month ago, the stock market was at record levels, and analysts were predicting new auto sales to remain around the 17 million mark as it has been for the past several years.

Now, dealerships are closed due to government mandates and have had to furlough large swaths of their sales teams. Sales have fallen off a cliff, and now JP Morgan Chase is predicting auto sales to only reach 10.3 million units this year…10.3 million.

That’s bad. But you know what, this won’t last forever.

In all great moments of history when everything seemed bleak and that the bad times would never end, they did. The title of this post is “Hard Times Come Again No More,” which is the name of a sad song the soldiers used to march to in the Civil War. Think about how bad everything seemed then: brother vs. brother, the United States ripped apart with no hope of reconciliation. But guess what, we did, and we were stronger than ever.

It’s dark now, and, as King George VI said on the eve of World War II, “There may be dark days ahead,” but the industry will be back, and I think it will be back quickly.

Before long, customers will be back. Showrooms will turn their lights on again, and sales will rise.

The question is, will you be ready?

The downtime is your time to make sure you have everything in place for when the good times return. Do you have all of your customers and prospects in your CRM? Are you using a useful data mining tool to help you attract your customers back to your store? After all, it’s cheaper to retain an existing customer than attract a new one. What about your inventory? Are you stocking the most profitable vehicles for your lot?

Now, more than ever, it is your opportunity to be ready for when the people come back.

If you haven’t, or if you’re not sure, operators are standing by. It never hurts to call us and see if you’re ready. We’d love to help you.

Patrick Mendoza serves as director of corp. communications for DealerSocket, Inc. Email him at [email protected].

In uncharted waters, the Indiana dealership is leaning heavily on its virtual presence to navigate it through the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Gregory Arroyo

Emily Spellman serves as director of digital marketing for Circle Buick GMC and has been a driving force in the dealership’s digital push.

This March marked Emily Spellman’s first year as director of digital marketing for Highland, Ind.-based Circle Buick GMC. She’s been a driving force in the 39-year-old dealership’s digital push, but she admits that nothing in her more than 10 years as a marketing professional prepared her for COVID-19.

“We’re all learning as we go,” she says. “The biggest thing I’ve learned is to focus on what I can control and zeroing in on what really matters, which is taking care of the community and our employees and translating that in our messaging in a way that connects with people.”

Deemed an essential business, Circle Buick GMC’s showroom and service department remain open.

Circle Buick GMC’s showroom and service department remain open despite Gov. Eric Holcomb’s March 23 executive order directing all Hoosiers to stay home. Thanks to local officials, who personally requested that Circle remain open, dealerships operating in its Lake County market were deemed essential. Spellman’s challenge is to strike the right balance when it comes to the dealership’s messaging.

“You don’t want to encourage people to leave their home, but, at the same time, you need to show you’re available to people who need us,” she says. “People are still buying and servicing their cars.”

Digital Readiness

Spellman feels fortunate to work for a dealership that has taken several forward-thinking steps that are helping during this uncertain time, such as adopting DealerSocket’s full platform of solutions. They include the software provider’s CRM, RevenueRadar data-mining tool, and the company’s DealerFire website and PrecisePrice digital retail platforms.

For the three months ending on Jan. 16, RevenueRadar generated 33 store visits, 23 open appointments, and 21 sold units, while PrecisePrice created 40 new leads, 33 store visits, and 16 sold vehicles. Total gross on PrecisePrice deals was $684 higher than units sold via internet leads.

Emily Spellman says DealerSocket’s PrecisePrice digital retail tool is generating a lot of engagement. She notes the dealership is currently working on new F&I product descriptions, videos, and infographics for the tool’s F&I presentation page, as well as F&I-related SEO content for the website.

Spellman calls that snapshot conservative in terms of PrecisePrice’s true impact, noting a definite uptick in customer interactions with the tool. “People are sending us that info, which comes to the CRM. And we’re pretty proactive about setting those appointments,” she says.

“But really, it’s been a mixed bag in terms of the traffic we’re getting,” she adds. “I was looking over some of the data today, and we’re getting walk-ins, return customers … So, digital retailing is one piece of it. The big difference I’ve noticed is between our current DealerFire website and our previous site. We’re getting more leads overall.”

Stay the Course

Sales for the 130-unit-a-month dealership remained on pace with last year through the first two days of April, but Spellman predicts a slowdown for the month. For now, General Motors’ interest-free financing for 84 months with deferred payments for up to 120 days is what’s influencing buyers, who she believes are taking advantage in case their job situation changes.

Circle Buick GMC is using its Facebook page to collect supplies and donations in support of first responders and the local St. Jude House.

“It’s definitely influencing people,” she says.

It’s why the dealership has adjusted a couple of in-house sales procedures to keep customers and employees safe and to abide by the state’s social distancing mandates. The dealership is also using the moment to collect supplies for first responders and the local St. Jude House domestic violence shelter.

“We’re trying to take advantage of the captive audience we have by sending a positive community message,” Spellman says. “People always remember the businesses that stood up to help, were positive and didn’t feed into the crisis mentality.”

As for the road ahead, Spellman’s advice is don’t panic. “Don’t sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate,” she says. “The dealerships that will survive are the ones that have a cool head and a long-term strategy.”

The Kansas City dealer group is hoping the digital steps it’s taken through the years will sustain demand through the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Gregory Arroyo

Pictured is the showroom of Soave Automotive Group’s Mercedes-Benz of Kansas City, Mo.

Soave Automotive Group, a multi-rooftop operation serving the greater Kansas City area, was off to a solid year, with sales and service profitability outpacing 2019 through February and no sign of that momentum wavering. That was before local health officials delivered two COVID-19-related orders within a period of six days.

The first, which ordered the closure of all social venues like bars and restaurants on March 17, left Kristopher Nielsen unfazed. As Soave’s eCommerce and customer experience manager, he was on the line that day with DealerFire’s design team to get the group’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic online and out to its markets.

“We have no plans to scale back our ad budget,” Nielsen said. “We’re not going to have a knee-jerk reaction. I think there are real opportunities to gain market share in this difficult situation.”

Ready for Anything

The forward-thinking steps the group has taken over the years to button up its operations and virtual presence was the reason for Nielsen’s optimism. He felt especially positive about the integration between the group’s DealerFire websites and DealerSocket’s CRM.

The connection allows him to see how many website visitors a campaign generates, which vehicles they look at, time on site, and then alerts his teams when those customers return — critical capabilities in the weeks ahead.

Nielsen also feels good about the group’s online service scheduling and fully online purchase process, which had generated robust engagement in the 90 days prior to his call with DealerFire. The newest addition to Soave’s websites is DealerFire’s test-drive delivery scheduler, which Nielsen added as part of the provider’s 100-day free use offer.

All three shopper experiences would get calls to action on the landing pages he wanted DealerFire to build to house the group’s COVID-19 response. The main message was that Soave Automotive’s dealerships were open and ready to help.

Promoting those landing pages would be an email campaign, press release, announcement bars on the group’s homepages, and the same SEO content strategy Soave had perfected since partnering with DealerFire in 2010. “The biggest thing for us is checking in on customers and orders coming in,” Nielsen said. “We’re contacting customers reaching the end of their leases. They’re going to need a car regardless of what’s going on in the world.”

Stay the Course

Soave was closing out a lighter than usual but still productive weekend when the second health order was issued. This time, all non-essential businesses were ordered to close on March 24 to stem the spread of the virus, which has infected more than 700 people in the Kansas City area. Dealership service departments could remain open, but sales were limited to appointment-only.

Nielsen said the shoppers who visited his group’s showroom that weekend were especially motivated to buy. Online traffic remained relatively stable, but lead and contact volume declined. Service capacity also declined, as customers opted against non-critical repairs.

Pictured is one of the COVID-19 landing pages DealerFire created for Soave Automotive.

“We’re actually still on track with last year, but January and February were very strong,” Nielsen said. “We’re now going to give back some of those gains.”

As for inventory, Nielsen said the group is keeping in touch with manufacturers as production shuts down. The group wasn’t concerned about being oversupplied, Nielsen noting that Soave has enough vehicles on the ground to get through April.

“A rising tide lifts all boats. Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked,” Nielsen said. “We recognize that all we can control is how we react. So we’re trying to stay positive and plan as best as we can for where things may go.”

 

Dear Customers and Partners,

Our thoughts are with you during these difficult times. As you may know, DealerSocket has built our reputation on a legacy of listening and partnering with our dealers. We recognize that all of us are in this fight together, and we are focused on helping you navigate through this crisis both economically and operationally. After countless discussions with our customers and hearing from you over the past week, we are announcing a significant reduction to your DealerSocket bill for April.

DealerSocket billing reductions:

Your April bill will be automatically credited in the amounts represented above, so no action is required from you. Your credit statement will be separate from your April bill, as many April bills have already gone out. With that said, there are some basic qualifying terms listed below.

As I’m sure you are also experiencing, things seem to change hour by hour. We will continue to assess the situation and talk with our customers, as we plan for things beyond April. We are trying to strike the right balance between being prepared for you when the market recovers and ensuring we can all weather this storm together.

In addition, we are offering our customers several promotions to help you navigate this crisis. Our offers include promotions for:

Since we are adding promotions and various resources for dealers often, please view DealerSocket’s latest information for our dealers at the link below, and as always, please feel free to reach out to your Customer Success Manager with any questions or if we can help in any way:

https://dealersocket.com/coronavirus-support/

We will get through this, and we will get through this together. We are committed to fighting through this with you. THANK YOU for partnering with DealerSocket. I hope you know how much we value and appreciate your loyalty, partnership, and your business.

Details regarding our COVID-19 relief package:

I wish you, your families, and your team members health in these unprecedented times.

Sejal Pietrzak
President & CEO
DealerSocket

DealerSocket’s First Pencil blog offers a peek into discussions taking place in dealer showrooms everywhere. At-home test drives are top of mind, as is digital retailing.

By Gregory Arroyo

It hit me like a ton of bricks. I drove to my son’s school this morning to pick up his tablet for virtual learning. I was excited to get out of the house, but the reality of today’s situation hit me when I saw masked and gloved teachers approach my vehicle to hand me his tablet.

Great leaders always seem to rise to the occasion, and those teachers were doing just that.

I’ve also witnessed great leaders emerging in dealer showrooms. We’ll be featuring them in our new “Inside the Dealership” series, but I’d like to share some tidbits from those interviews as well as notes I’ve jotted down from the social media groups to which I belong.

No Plans to Scale Back

You got to love car people. No matter the situation, you’ll never hear fear in their voice. I say that after listening in to a call between DealerFire’s design and content team and Kristopher Nielsen, who serves as eCommerce and guest experience manager for Kansas City’s Aristocrat Motors.

“We have no plans to scale back our ad budget,” he said firmly. “A rising tide lifts all boats. Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.

“We’re not going to have any knee-jerk reactions,” he continued, “because I think there are real opportunities to gain market share in a difficult situation.”

What he was referring to is the shopper conveniences his group offers, including the group’s fully online purchase process, online service scheduling, and at-home test-drives. All three of those offerings got calls to action in the group’s email, landing page, and other marketing pieces detailing the operation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Top-Down Leadership

Then there’s Honda of Cleveland, Tenn., which had an action plan in place the day before Tennessee Gov. Brad Lee declared a state of emergency. That plan was delivered by Brad Cobb, president of Bowers Automotive and owner of Honda of Cleveland. He first shared it with the dealership’s general manager, who shared it with his managers, who shared it with their teams.

“The key has been the communication from the top,” Hailey says. “We’re respecting what’s going on, but we’re not fearing it. We just want to keep things positive.”

Mixed Reports

Overall, it seems at-home test-drives are top of mind, at least on social media. While I try not to plug my company’s products, I feel compelled to share that DealerFire will offer free use of its test-driver delivery scheduler for 100 days to owners of a DealerFire website who also use DealerSocket’s CRM. Click here for details.

News regarding showroom traffic seemed mixed. Some car people reported a business-as-usual sales weekend, while others reported cancellations and empty showrooms. Things seemed to turn a bit as the week progressed, as I began seeing posts about dealers adjusting employee schedules. One post indicated that the dealer was letting employees walk with the promise that the dealership would hire them back once the crisis subsides.

It’s only been Week One of this social distancing, and I can’t fathom what’s to come. My heart and thoughts go out to my commission-based friends manning showrooms and F&I offices. Hey, we got this.

As my friend “Mad” Marv Eleazer likes to say, good luck and keep closing.

Gregory Arroyo is the former editor of “F&I and Showroom” and “Auto Dealer Today” magazines. He now serves as senior manager of strategic content for DealerSocket. Email him at [email protected].

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