What can we learn from events?

Our #DCDW Events took place last week, and they were very well attended! We scanned 72 participants in Antwerp and had 176 guests in Almere, not counting our team members. The #DCDW meetings are increasingly well attended, and from what I hear, it’s because the content resonates! Of course, networking is part of it, eating croquettes is part of it, but the focus is on the content.

I can easily describe my own presentation and welcome speech and talk about the cool AI initiatives with Calldrip, but I’d like to save that for another time!

Jasen Rice

This week, I want to focus on the keynote speaker Jasen Rice from Lotpop Inc.. Jasen is an authority in the American automotive industry when it comes to inventory turnover. In these times, it’s a topic everyone wants to know more about because with increasing stat days, high interest rates, and lower margins, the pain is felt on multiple fronts. Jasen has written a book: WTF, which stands for Work The Facts. Honestly, I had to read it three times before I really understood what he meant, but now that I’ve seen the light, I can only say he’s 100% right!

Selling inventory 12 times is the norm!

The average car dealer in America has an inventory turnover of eight times, Jasen’s clients sell between 12 to 18 times their inventory. And no, those figures have nothing to do with the American market, prices, or anything else. It’s about focus and a different way of thinking and marketing. A company with 100 cars in stock should be able to sell 100 cars per month.

Two focus points – stop bleeding and round prices

First, you need to stop the bleeding! Bleeding of the inventory after 31 and 60 days. From your sales volume, there should be 60% to 70% fresh inventory in every other month. That’s where most of the profit lies, and it ensures that your inventory doesn’t bleed into the older stat buckets. Price the car to sell on the first day, and make sure the photos are in the correct order, see also this article. Mention the right accessories people are looking for, such as Apple Carplay, and make sure they are in the first six photos.

If you then want to see which cars are in which stat bucket, you can see that with the data from Indicata. In this example, you can see that this dealer has 48 cars with a stat time between 31 and 60 days. If you then look at how many cars you’ve sold in the last 30 days from that bucket, you also know how many will bleed into the 61-90 stat day bucket (already 22). If you want to start, start with the fresh inventory that can be sold as quickly as possible, so that the bleeding is as low as possible.

Round prices

Another interesting story from Jasen Rice, which I was unaware of, is the effect of round asking prices. Yes, of course, a price of €22,495 looks good, but what’s the effect if you ask for €5 more? The effect is that, for example, on Marktplaats (a Dutch online marketplace), you participate in the defined price ranges of €20,000 to €22,500, but also in the range starting from €22,500. In one, you’re the highest, in the other, the lowest. For just €5 more, you participate in both price ranges, increasing the chance of an SRP and ultimately a VDP view! We have already changed our pricing policy in the Ligier and Experience Store Doesburg and immediately received more leads!

If you want to know more about Jasen’s theory, order his book on Amazon via this link!