Subaru of Lethbridge wanted to improve their desking process, so they introduced Autovance Desk to generate worksheets for all of their customers. This approach provided them a structured process that helped them increase gross profit by 54% and lease penetration by 71% in the first two years.
Goals
- Remove the pain of negotiation and replace it with an opportunity to strengthen the relationships they had with their customers
- Eliminate confusing and hard-to-explain worksheets
Approach
- Used Autovance Desk to generate a worksheet for every customer, regardless of how they intended to purchase
Results
- 71% increase in lease penetration (first 2 years)
- 54% increase in average front gross profit (first 2 years)
- Rated #1 Subaru Dealer for both of those years (DealerRater)
Over the last 20 years the people who buy vehicles haven’t changed that much, but the way they buy them sure has! In today’s digital world, it’s not uncommon for a customer to arrive in the showroom knowing exactly which model and trim they want, right down to the colour. Customers do so much research prior to visiting a dealership that the interview process has almost completely evaporated.
“We had lost our systematic approach to the steps to a sale”
When a customer arrives at the dealership and is ready to buy the specific vehicle they want, dealers need to be able to engage them in a meaningful way that serves both parties’ interests. How did Subaru of Lethbridge overcome these challenges? As a growing dealer, they needed to find a way to move through the sales process at the customer’s pace while still building rapport and value in their dealership. After looking into their existing processes, they identified that negotiations with buyers had become very time-consuming, and the tools they had in place made this process cumbersome and uncomfortable. Furthermore, prior to adding Autovance Desk into their sales process, no matter how much time and energy was spent on different purchase options, customers often left the dealership confused. Dealer principal Luke Davis recalls: “there was too much repetition of information and not enough clarity on what really mattered: how much they would be paying. We could never really get the transparency we wanted.”
“An organic document that invites conversion”
With the introduction of Autovance Desk, Subaru of Lethbridge can now quickly and accurately generate purchase worksheets that are tailored to today’s car buyers. Customers are presented with a clear view of the deal, including pricing of the vehicle as well as a variety of finance and lease scenarios. The focus of the worksheet is to put the customer at ease with regards to price and then to educate them on their purchase options.
2185 deals desked, and counting!
The Davis Automotive Group has always prided themselves in offering customers a buying experience that stood above other dealers, and this has been a big focus of Luke and his team since purchasing Subaru of Lethbridge in 2009. Autovance Desk has enabled them to strike a balance between strong growth and the level of service their customers have come to expect.
“In 2015 we outsold some of the bigger import stores here in Lethbridge,” said Davis. “we used to be the underdog, but that’s no longer the case. We’ve tripled our volume in the last 6 years.”
“The customer dictates the experience”
In 2015, Subaru of Lethbridge was ranked by DealerRater as the Subaru Dealer of the Year for Canada and then in 2016, Subaru Dealer of the Year for Alberta. They are proving that strong growth and high levels of customer satisfaction can coexist in today’s market.
Quoting payments to customers during negotiation is a familiar exercise for most dealers, so we asked sales manager Joe Kadezabek what really stood out as the difference when working with Autovance Desk: “Lease Penetration is the one thing that stands out right away. That’s really been the eureka for us. It brings up the conversation and lets us show them the benefits. The element of choice as it relates to the numbers really makes the customer feel that the process was to their benefit.”
