Vehicle Buying Center: Buy 100+ Cars A Month From The Public

The inventory crisis is affecting car dealerships across the nation. However, there are dealerships that sell more used cars and hold more gross during the used car inventory shortage. That is because they have a Vehicle Buying Center (VBC). Working with Dealer Synergy and VinCue, automotive dealers have a used car acquisition strategy to buy 100+ cars each month from the public.

Sean V. Bradley, CSP makes it a mission to stay on the cutting edge of the automotive industry. As such, he partners with dealers and technology companies that put car dealerships first. This week, Sean gives a presentation on how to acquire used cars during an inventory crisis, resulting in the ability to sell more used cars.   

Who better to join him than Danny Zaslavsky.  Sean & Danny are the Vehicle Buying Center pioneers. Utilizing VinCue’s revolutionary technology and Dealer Synergy’s HR services, on-site and virtual training, and CRM setup, Country Hill Motors successfully buys over 100 cars each month from the public.

About Danny Zaslavsky 

Danny Zaslavsky is the Managing Partner and General Manager at Country Hill Motors, in Kansa City, Missouri. As an independent dealership, Country Hill Motors success is directly tied to their used car acquisition strategy.

In addition to his role at Country Hill Motors, Danny is also the managing partner at VinCue. Built by dealers for dealers, VinCue Vehicle Buying Center (VBC) combines digital and in-store tools and resources that will help you build a business out of buying cars from the public. Today, Country Hill Motors purchases over 100 vehicles a month from the public with an increased gross per copy of $1,200. 

Show Notes: The Real Used Car Factory: How To Buy 100 Cars Per Month From The Public With A Vehicle Buying Center

Danny’s Vehicle Buying Center Journey

The road to buying over 100 cars per month started with a vision to acquire vehicles without paying costly auction and transportation fees.  With this vision in mind, Danny got to work.  His journey started with him studying other car buying outlets. Ultimately, this allowed him to fully understand the value of buying directly from the source, the public.  

First, Danny committed himself and his dealership to private party acquisitions. From there, Danny and Dealer Synergy worked on the strategy.  Not only did they focus on buying strategies, but also infrastructure, HR, and training strategies. Then, Danny hired dedicated buying agents and incentivized private-party acquisitions.  Finally, the ending result was the VBC.  

Where The Vehicle Buying Center Took Danny Today

After fine tuning strategy, messaging, and marketing, Country Hill Motors experienced tremendous success from their VBC initiative.  By 2020, the dealership implemented the VinCue Vehicle Buying Center and it drove their success even further. Today, Danny and his team buys over 100 cars a month from the public. Additionally, the average turn on these vehicles is 22 days. 

More importantly, Country Hill Motors is able to hold more gross profit on used cars that were private party acquisitions.  On average, the front-end gross increased by $1200. Danny attributes this is due to owning their vehicles for less.  Essentially, they are cutting out the middleman and avoiding auction and transportation fees to get inventory. Simply put, the VBC has made Country Hill Motors self-sustaining. 

VBC Multi-Channel Marketing

VBC Lead Generation & Marketing 

The first step to creating an effective BDC is by finding inventory; or in other words, lead generation.  In order to generate leads for your VBC, you need the right content.  The content should be informative, but it is also important to remember to mix in funny and engaging content.

Vehicle Buying Center Marketing 

Multi-channel marketing is one of the most important parts of the lead process. While having the right content is important, you must also have a diverse range of marketing channels.  This is the best way to increase your footprint and reach people interested in selling their vehicles. 

Social media, email marketing automation, television and radio are all good means of marketing.  However, Country Hill Motors takes it to the next level by utilizing the Country Hill Motors YouTube channel. Not only did they put marketing videos on their YouTube, but they also put customer testimonials from those they purchased vehicles from. Then, when everything is firing on all cylinders, you can take your dealership to the next level by hosting in-person events.

The Vehicle Buying Center Website 

Once you have the correct content and marketing channels, the next step is to have the right landing page.  Danny’s landing page, www.selltocountryhillmotors.com, is specifically designed to buy cars. With little messaging about selling cars, it is designed with one goal in mind, to acquire used cars.  Additionally, with VinCue’s technology, Danny is able to provide a real time offer to those looking to sell their vehicles.

The Vehicle Buying Center Staff

VBC HR: Who is the VBC Team?

What makes a great salesperson doesn’t necessarily make a great VBC agent. For the center to succeed, you need a team with the right personality. You want to look for someone who has the heart of an educator. Simply put, they need to possess excellent communication and customer service skills.  Additionally, they need to be proficient at analyzing data and convey it to others in a clear, concise, and understandable way. 

The VBC Team Are Problem Solvers

Remember, your VBC team is trying to solve problems for two people.  The first is your problem. You need more inventory without the price gouging at auctions.  Second is the customer’s problem, as they want or need to sell their vehicle. The second problem, that of the customer, needs to be perceived as the only one.  With that said, your VBC team should be an excellent problem solver.  Additionally, they need to be able to use empathy to show that they really do want to help the seller solve their problem.

HR Solutions for the Vehicle Buying Center: The Hiring Strategy for Car Dealerships

Once you qualify the type of person that you are looking for. You need to create an all-embracing strategy to find people that meet or exceed your expectations. This is where most dealerships fail when hiring for any position.  The typical dealership will post open positions on a few career boards.  Then, they sit back and wait for the best candidates to find the ads and apply.  This is not the way dealerships should be approaching HR.

HR Solutions for the Vehicle Buying Center: Your Website & Employee Testimonial Videos

The first place you should have open positions listed is your website. However, open positions should not just sit on the careers page. You need to have a call to action above the fold on your home page. Above the fold on your home page should be for top priority items. So, with hiring the right candidate being a top priority, you must treat it as such. In addition to the call to action, your careers page should also be setup correctly.

HR Solutions: Employee Testimonial Videos & Value Proposition

Dealerships take picture and video testimonials of customers who purchase vehicles from them all of the time.  Why don’t they do this with happy employees for their HR initiatives?  Employee testimonial videos will help you hire the best employees. Lastly, many dealerships have a value proposition package for customers purchasing a vehicle, but they do not have an employee value proposition.  This should be incorporated into your HR strategy and your website.

HR Solutions for Automotive Dealerships: Using Social Media For Your HR Needs

With your strategy and website setup correctly, you can now successfully advertise the job openings through other channels. Social media is the #1 form of communication, and as such, should be your first stop. You need to post the open position to social media sites, such as Facebook Jobs and LinkedIn.  Additionally, you should have these postings link to your updated careers page on your website, with all of the reasons they should want to work for you.  Adding videos and photos to your postings will further help your initiative.

HR Solutions for the Vehicle Buying Center: Recruiting Websites

People often think the recruiting websites should be where they start when looking to hire employees.  But, like a customer shopping for a vehicle or looking to sell their vehicle, potential job candidates also do their homework. When a potential candidate sees your listings, they are likely to then view your website and social media account.  Are they going to see what they want or need to see, or will they be deterred from applying because they don’t like what they see?

Simply put, automotive dealerships need to make sure that their website, career pages, and their social media are in order before they turn to recruiting websites.  Then, once their internal resources are in order, they should turn to sites such as Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and Glassdoor.

Other Creative HR Solutions

Lastly, there is a final area that many dealerships fail to even consider, the community.  When looking for employees, automotive dealerships should reach out to the state and local unemployment offices.  They should also reach out to the local colleges and military institutions as well.  These organizations typically have a plethora of potential employees that are in need of a job and are waiting for the right opportunity for them.

HR Solutions for Car Dealerships: Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

Now that strategy and job ad placement is taken care of, now you must think about your hiring process. Where are you going to place all of the resumes you receive? How are you going to track the progress of your hiring efforts?  How are you going to know where potential candidates are in the hiring process? This is an issue that many automotive dealerships have, especially if there are multiple people involved in the hiring process.

The solution to this problem is to utilize an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). An ATS will save you and your dealership time and money. First, it will help you and your team post your open positions to your website, many different social media platforms, and a plethora of recruiting sites.  Then, it will collect all of the resumes and candidate information in a very easy to use manner.  Lastly, it will allow you and your staff to track the progress of each candidate.  Think of an ATS as a CRM for your HR department.

Automotive Sales Training For The Vehicle Buying Center

VBC Onboarding

Many car dealerships do not have a proper onboarding process for new employees, especially in the sales departments.  The typical process is to sit them down to watch a few training videos.  Then they shadow a sales associate for a few days. Finally, after the dealership spent a lot of time and money to hire them, they set them free to start selling cars. This is not the correct way to onboard any employee, let alone a VBC agent.  Car dealerships need to protect their HR investments.

With vehicle buying centers being so new, the onboarding process is like uncharted water for many dealerships. You need to figure out what your goals and objectives are.  Then, you need to determine what you need to succeed. Finally, you need to start training your people.

VBC Onboarding Solution: Dealer Synergy 

With much of this information being unknown, the most successful dealerships with a VBC partner with Dealer Synergy. Dealer Synergy not only helps automotive dealerships hire the very best people, but they also help onboard, train, and coach them. Additionally, Dealer Synergy helps automotive dealerships define their goals, track progress, and strategize real solutions to real problems.

In addition to strategy, goals & projections, and tracking, dealerships must also consider what information they are tracking.  What are the KPIs for the VBC and what is the VBC team accountable for.  This is critical information, as the goals of the VBC should be tied to the pay plans of the VBC team.  

The Importance of Training

Dealerships have a 70-80% attrition rate. Meaning within one year 70-80% of the people working there will leave. This is usually due to the team members’ performance. To help combat this your team needs to be trained properly. Training goes hand and hand with a proper onboarding process. A VBC representative is going to have to be trained in a lot of avenues. These areas include onboarding, CRM, phone sales, and internet Sales / BDC just to name a few.

Dealer Synergy’s Vehicle Buying Center Training In Bradley On Demand

With the best people with the correct onboarding, the next step to the vehicle buying center is training.  Your VBC team needs to be training. Results cant be expected without the proper training.  Additionally, you cannot have your VBC team watch a few videos and be ready to go.

Dealer Synergy offers vehicle buying center training in many different forms.  The first is through Bradley On Demand. Bradley On Demand is the automotive industry’s #1 interactive training, tracking, testing, and certification platform.  Not only does Bradley On Demand offer VBC training, it has a plethora of training for the entire dealership.  Bradley On Demand also offers training on CRM, BDC, Internet Sales, Phone Sales, Showroom Sales, HR, and many other topics.

Virtual Training With Dealer Synergy

In addition to training in Bradley On Demand, Dealer Synergy has other forms of training available as well.  First is through the Dealer Synergy Academy.  The DS Academy has multiple classes everyday, Monday through Friday, on many different topics.  These classes are group training sessions performed through Zoom.  They are also interactive, so attendees are able to interact with the instructors and ask questions.

Dealer Synergy also provides one on one training and group dealership training sessions on many different topics.  These training sessions are typically conducted through Zoom as well. For the VBC, the most common training topics are CRM, VBC process, and VBC phone scripts.

In Person Automotive Sales Training – Dealer Synergy

In addition to video and virtual training, Dealer Synergy also provides in-person training. With the best trainers on staff, Dealer Synergy can visit your dealership and help train your people in person. This can be scheduled for an individual day, or multiple days in a row.  Not only will the Dealer Synergy trainers work to train your staff in a classroom setting, but they will also work with them in the department.  Working with and alongside your staff on a one-on-one basis and physically jumping on the phones with them provides the highest level of results possible.

VBC Leads, The Vehicle Buying Center Process, & VBC CRM Setup

VBC Leads: Inbound Leads

There are two different types of vehicle acquisition leads.  The first is an inbound lead.  This is where a customer fills out a form or calls the dealership and the first form of communication.  Essentially, the seller (customer) is the one to start the communication process.

These leads can be received by many different places, however, the best converting leads is through using VinCue’s offer technology on your website.  By properly setting up your website or an additional website specifically for acquisition, you can not only generate leads from people looking to sell their vehicles, but you can also provide a real time offer on the spot.

VBC: Outbound Leads

An outbound vehicle acquisition lead is where the dealership’s acquisition team reaches out to the seller (customer) first. In this scenario, the seller never communicated their need to sell their vehicle to the dealership.  Think of the outbound vehicle acquisition lead like it is prospecting.  

There are different ways to generate outbound VBC leads. Most dealerships will spend time visiting many different websites where people can sell their vehicles.  These websites can include Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and AutoTrader.  While this is a great strategy, it can also be very time consuming.

Save Time Acquiring Outbound Leads

The dealerships that perform best with outbound vehicle acquisitions utilize VinCue. VinCue’s state of the art technology consolidates all of this information into their one, easy to use platform.  From there, you can set many different parameters, including what vehicles you don’t want to see.  Additionally, you can start the communication process through VinCue, saving a plethora of time.

The Vehicle Acquisition Process

The vehicle acquisition process is much different than a sales process. Additionally, the process is different for inbound and outbound leads. Whatever your process is, it is critical that these two pieces of information are kept in mind.  Remember, you are not trying to sell a car and the customer isn’t trying to buy one. The roles are reversed and the process must be tailor to that and the specific motivator for the seller.

When partnered with both VinCue and Dealer Synergy, dealerships with a VBC have seen instant results from the first month.  Bob Ruth Ford, a Ford dealership in Dillsburg, PA, was purchasing an average of 20 cars a month from the public. However, when they partnered with both VinCue and Dealer Synergy, they purchased nearly 100 cars from the public in their first month.

Your Current CRM Setup

Process means nothing when the tools the team uses to carry out the process is not set up correctly. In Dealer Synergy’s experiences, 90% of CRMs are not properly set up.  This means that your CRM is not set up correctly, statistically speaking that is. You need to view your CRM like it is an ATM, because when set up and used correctly, it will generate significantly more sales, and in this case, acquisitions.

The Proper VBC CRM Setup

The first step to an effective CRM strategy is having a methodical outline of the entire process. Through time, we have learned that the vehicle acquisition gestation period is approx. 30 days. Therefore your outline should cover the proper procedure to follow during that period. 

You should also include custom templates and examples on reaching out to customers. Additionally, the CRM should be set up with scripts and examples on how to utilize the different forms of communication. This can include social media DMs, custom video mail, custom video text messages, and Apple facetime. This will allow you to have an effective strategy and a high-performing VBC.

The Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast: is the #1 resource for automotive sales professionals, managers, and owners.  Also, join The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group today!

For more interactivity, join The Millionaire Car Salesman Club on Clubhouse.

Win the Game of Googleopoly: Unlocking the secret strategy of search engines.

VinCue: In addition to be built by dealers for dealers, VinCue is an All-In-One Digital Platform.  At the end of the day, it can help your Dealership!

AutoWeb: Visit AutoWeb.com/dealers for help in revolutionizing your business to help you sell more cars.

Dealer eProcess: Specializing in responsive websites.  Without a doubt, DealereProcess.com is the auto industry’s leading custom website provider.

CarNow: Sell more cars now!  Not only is CarNow.com. the market leader in tailored digital solutions, but they are built to help dealers sell more cars.

Last week, Sean V. Bradley, CSP, and L.A. Williams dove headfirst into selling more cars using social media. While Sean and L.A. are social media superstars. Their guest Brandon Cogozzo is no slouch himself. He has found strategies that can elevate any dealer’s online presents. He goes over helpful software and social media strategies. They also cover content creations do and don’t and how to close internet leads.

The Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast

The Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast has a new episode every Tuesday at 4:00 PM EST.  Be sure to tune in next week. Also, check out all of the previous episodes of the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast.

Likewise, join the Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group and The Millionaire Car Salesman Club on Clubhouse today!

Additionally, The Against All Odds Radio Show broadcasts nationwide each weekend and has a podcast released each Monday.  Listen in for tips from billionaires and multi-millionaires.