Zach from KB Motorsports, Springfield MO

zach@kb · 04-24-2013, 07:20 AM

Hello everyone. New guy. Been in Auto sales off and on for aroung 5 years dating back to my 1st gig in 2000. All has been used retail and I stint of 2yrs doing BHPH and subprime loans.

Currently Doing Retail Used Sales where we have around 40 units ranginf on avg. from $8000-$23000. Me and 1 other Salesman, a Owner, a Finance Guy, and a Lot Boy.

My other roll is Internet Presence (Facebook, our CFS website, Autotrader, Cars.com, ebay, and others). Also in charge of our Reputation Managment and Customer Retention.

We moved from a 2 year established store to another city 8 miles away for what we thought would be a better opportunity and store, only to about go out of business as our Sales have dropped from averaging 15-22 spm, to only 7-10 spm. If anything we are advertizing MORE with less results. We have a HUGE New Car store directly across the street. Reliable Imports and RV's that sales New Subaru, Hyundai, and Mazda. They also have a huge Pre-Owned store then also RV's. Our landlord hooked us by saying we would get 10 per month just from having them as a neighbor, but we have YET to see it. We are getting MAYBE 1-2 off them.

I initially came here looking for an adverising section or maybe a Social Media section only not to find any, but decided to stay anyway. I'm apart of a couple other Non Car Sales Forums so I plan to interact and not just troll so HELLO!!

If you want, check out my site and give me some input!

www.kbmotorsportsinc.com
www.facebook.com/kbmotorsportsinc

XDCX · 04-24-2013, 10:41 AM

Zach - Welcome to DealershipForum.

Sorry to hear your dealership's move to a new location/facility didn't create the jump in sales that your owner was hoping for. In my experience, moving is always a risky proposition and even a distance as short as eight miles is far enough that you can lose your owner base and find that the market/demographic is different than what you're used to.

Concerning the new location, if I can ask, what's the history of that location? Have there been a number of dealers that have opened and closed or has it been stable?

When I get a chance later this afternoon I'll check out your website and give you a recommendation of another forum that might be well-suited to discuss your social media questions.

zach@kb · 04-24-2013, 11:30 AM

Our Move was from Ozark to Springfield. Springfield is the 3rd largest city in Missouri behind KC and STL. Ozark is just a 10 minute drive south on 65 from Springfield. Basically just on the outskirts of the Springfield Metro area. The reason for the move and what made sense was that we only sold 1 car every 3 months to a Ozark Resident. The rest were people from Springfield making the drive down, or Internet Customers driving in from some other place or Internet Customers who had their purchase shipped, so we didnt think much would change, and obviously things would be even better. WRONG we were.

Our new location is around 15 years old. Nice lot and nice building. The original car lot that was here (it was built to be a car lot and always had) was here for maybe 5 years. They did well at one time. After that it was another dealer who stayed here around the same legnth of 5 years, and the 3rd and last before us only lasted say 2 years, then the MOrtgage Crisis in '08 hit and most things went to ****. This lot stayed empty for a couple years.

The main difference between this lot and our old one is the road out from. In Ozark we were on a Busy road that stayed busy all day every day. But it was the same people day after day. Our new lot is off a busy road. Maybe only .05% of the prior traffic driving by. We knew that going in but didnt think that would matter because most if not ALL of our sales in Ozark were people driving down from Springfield, OR found us online and drove in from even further. We were guessing we would do even better with a HUGE New Car store across the street where as in Ozark their wasnt anything like that in town.

Any input is greatly appreciated. Glad to be here!!

Zach

XDCX · 04-25-2013, 12:30 PM

Thanks for the information - I can see why your owner felt confident that the move would make sense.

Concerning opening a store in a location that's been closed/empty for two years - that's a real challenge. While I'm sure your store will become more established with time I recall one Dealer Placement Manager at Chrysler who often stated it can take as long as two years for a dealer to overcome a negative association with the prior dealers who sold cars at a given location.

Concerning traffic, I personally favor a location that has a lot of drive-by traffic - even if they're mostly the same people who are commuting to work.

I remember a dealer who had a single-point Jeep store right in the middle of "auto-row" on a major street that was near a military base. He did a great job selling used cars and most of his cars were bought by people who were in the area looking for used cars. The dealer sold his Jeep store and opened a CJD dealership in a new market and really struggled with used cars. The types of cars he would buy were great for "drive-by" traffic but didn't work well for print advertising or Internet searches.

Concerning being located near a major new car dealer, I've known some used car dealers who have had success by stocking/displaying used cars of the same brand as the nearby dealer. That said, that can be a risky proposition if the OEM is one that offers deep incentives since it's hard for a used car dealer to compete against a new car dealer that might have $3000+ in incentives to work with.

04-24-2013, 07:20 AM	#1
zach@kb New Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 11	Zach from KB Motorsports, Springfield MO Hello everyone. New guy. Been in Auto sales off and on for aroung 5 years dating back to my 1st gig in 2000. All has been used retail and I stint of 2yrs doing BHPH and subprime loans. Currently Doing Retail Used Sales where we have around 40 units ranginf on avg. from $8000-$23000. Me and 1 other Salesman, a Owner, a Finance Guy, and a Lot Boy. My other roll is Internet Presence (Facebook, our CFS website, Autotrader, Cars.com, ebay, and others). Also in charge of our Reputation Managment and Customer Retention. We moved from a 2 year established store to another city 8 miles away for what we thought would be a better opportunity and store, only to about go out of business as our Sales have dropped from averaging 15-22 spm, to only 7-10 spm. If anything we are advertizing MORE with less results. We have a HUGE New Car store directly across the street. Reliable Imports and RV's that sales New Subaru, Hyundai, and Mazda. They also have a huge Pre-Owned store then also RV's. Our landlord hooked us by saying we would get 10 per month just from having them as a neighbor, but we have YET to see it. We are getting MAYBE 1-2 off them. I initially came here looking for an adverising section or maybe a Social Media section only not to find any, but decided to stay anyway. I'm apart of a couple other Non Car Sales Forums so I plan to interact and not just troll so HELLO!! If you want, check out my site and give me some input! www.kbmotorsportsinc.com www.facebook.com/kbmotorsportsinc

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04-24-2013, 10:41 AM	#2
XDCX Administrator Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 14,869	Zach - Welcome to DealershipForum. Sorry to hear your dealership's move to a new location/facility didn't create the jump in sales that your owner was hoping for. In my experience, moving is always a risky proposition and even a distance as short as eight miles is far enough that you can lose your owner base and find that the market/demographic is different than what you're used to. Concerning the new location, if I can ask, what's the history of that location? Have there been a number of dealers that have opened and closed or has it been stable? When I get a chance later this afternoon I'll check out your website and give you a recommendation of another forum that might be well-suited to discuss your social media questions.

04-24-2013, 11:30 AM	#3
zach@kb New Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 11	Our Move was from Ozark to Springfield. Springfield is the 3rd largest city in Missouri behind KC and STL. Ozark is just a 10 minute drive south on 65 from Springfield. Basically just on the outskirts of the Springfield Metro area. The reason for the move and what made sense was that we only sold 1 car every 3 months to a Ozark Resident. The rest were people from Springfield making the drive down, or Internet Customers driving in from some other place or Internet Customers who had their purchase shipped, so we didnt think much would change, and obviously things would be even better. WRONG we were. Our new location is around 15 years old. Nice lot and nice building. The original car lot that was here (it was built to be a car lot and always had) was here for maybe 5 years. They did well at one time. After that it was another dealer who stayed here around the same legnth of 5 years, and the 3rd and last before us only lasted say 2 years, then the MOrtgage Crisis in '08 hit and most things went to ****. This lot stayed empty for a couple years. The main difference between this lot and our old one is the road out from. In Ozark we were on a Busy road that stayed busy all day every day. But it was the same people day after day. Our new lot is off a busy road. Maybe only .05% of the prior traffic driving by. We knew that going in but didnt think that would matter because most if not ALL of our sales in Ozark were people driving down from Springfield, OR found us online and drove in from even further. We were guessing we would do even better with a HUGE New Car store across the street where as in Ozark their wasnt anything like that in town. Any input is greatly appreciated. Glad to be here!! Zach

04-25-2013, 12:30 PM	#4
XDCX Administrator Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 14,869	Thanks for the information - I can see why your owner felt confident that the move would make sense. Concerning opening a store in a location that's been closed/empty for two years - that's a real challenge. While I'm sure your store will become more established with time I recall one Dealer Placement Manager at Chrysler who often stated it can take as long as two years for a dealer to overcome a negative association with the prior dealers who sold cars at a given location. Concerning traffic, I personally favor a location that has a lot of drive-by traffic - even if they're mostly the same people who are commuting to work. I remember a dealer who had a single-point Jeep store right in the middle of "auto-row" on a major street that was near a military base. He did a great job selling used cars and most of his cars were bought by people who were in the area looking for used cars. The dealer sold his Jeep store and opened a CJD dealership in a new market and really struggled with used cars. The types of cars he would buy were great for "drive-by" traffic but didn't work well for print advertising or Internet searches. Concerning being located near a major new car dealer, I've known some used car dealers who have had success by stocking/displaying used cars of the same brand as the nearby dealer. That said, that can be a risky proposition if the OEM is one that offers deep incentives since it's hard for a used car dealer to compete against a new car dealer that might have $3000+ in incentives to work with.