It may be on the other side of the world, in Las Vegas, Nevada, but the annual NADA convention directly influences dealers in Australia.
The National Automotive Dealers Association’s expo and meeting of minds is so well-regarded by Aussie car dealers that around 200 would have made the trip to the US to glean as much from the event as possible.
Thoughts, themes and ideas make waves that invariably move the sand on Australian shores in the future.
One of the biggest announcements to come out of NADA was actually made before the convention had even officially kicked off. American third party site TrueCar announced a raft of changes to its business model all with the one aim; mending fractured relationships with dealers.
TrueCar is a huge player in the American auto market, and despite its immense popularity with consumers, realised how important balance is when it comes to support.
The changes to its business model should give dealers, both in the USA and Australia, the confidence that they are still a vital part of the car-buying journey.
Chief amongst the changes was more accurate, localised pricing information for vehicles. It also added 100 heads to form a field team to ensure dealer relationships were being maximised. At carsales we found it heartening as these two things have been principal parts of our offering for years.
Through LiveMarket, our other data tools, and localised search options, plus our dedicated team of performance managers, our dealer network has the help on hand that they need to accurately operate the way TrueCar has outlined for its future.
Another big theme coming out Las Vegas is centred on the growing trend of customer relationship management (CRM) customer mining. For those who are not up with this kind of lingo, it is a practice that utilises statistical techniques and analytics to reveal trends, patterns and relationships in your CRM or DMS, helping identify sales, service and aftermarket opportunities that may have never even have been discovered.
The best part of customer or equity mining, as it is also known, is that it can be the perfect hook for speaking to past consumers. There are many software products (including Autogate Pro) which can help identify customers who have previously leased or financed a car, or are current service customers, that your sales team can call and offer a new car, for the same amount that they are currently paying.
With the NADA happenings making waves and as we enter the final quarter before the end of the financial year, it’s a good time to look at other trends and disruptors that could play into the way dealerships operate over the next three to six months.
One big change in the Australian auto landscape has been Manheim’s acquisition of Dealer Solutions, which should make for some interesting viewing over the next little while. Dealer Solutions CEO Damian Jones was quoted as saying: “This move will allow us to bring more of the services and products within the Cox Automotive stable internationally, into our local markets.”
I feel that exactly what that means, and also some further acquisitions and moves in the automotive services space will be revealed in the not too distant future.
Having a large and respected international player like Cox in Australia makes us here at carsales concentrate even harder on getting great results for our dealers and providing innovative products and solutions to keep our customers ahead of the competition.
Also looming in the not-too-distant future is a federal election. This is a time which generally sees a bit of a market dip in auto industry activity. Private and business buyers alike tend to wait to make their purchases until the political landscape is clearer.
With the election looking increasingly likely to take place July 2, now’s a good time to get proactive (especially given that the budget will be handed down early) and not wait for a traditionally large June sales month, as it may not happen the way we want it to.
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