This week's guest: Brian Kramer EVP - Cars.com
In what way is technology changing the skill sets required for an effective, high producing used car manager or director in today's business?
Technology is now able to remove more and more administrative items off a Used Car Managers plate, on a daily basis. It reminds of 20 years ago, when technology allowed multiple lease options to be calculated in seconds. Prior to that, all leases were calculated manually, with a calculator & desked with a green Sharpie. There is a similar transition happening now with Used Vehicle inventory management & appraising. There are some that do not want to let go of the past, and the legacy way of doing things. We were at a similar tipping point in 2008, when the industry transitioned from paper appraisal guides to digital appraisal systems. That transition changed the skillset to where you needed someone with computer skills to be a Used Car Manager. Over the next five years, we will see a transition from managers to leaders in those roles. Technology will automate more of the mundane tasks, and that position will require someone who excels at mentoring, coaching, developing & leading their team.
As used cars have become more and more important to the overall profit structure in a dealership, what emerging new positions with respect to reconditioning and the used car process do you see now and in the future?
I think that Service Drive Acquisition teams and Central Buying Center teams will create more specialized positions, in the same way that eCom/Internet Sales Teams emerged 10-15 years ago. I think that between using OBD scanners during appraisals & integrations into reconditioning software, there will be minimal service recon items to approve. This will be due to 80% of the reconditioning inspection being done during the physical appraisal. This will result in Technicians turning much more work, due to not waiting for UCM R.O. approvals & technology communicating with the Parts Department in real-time to pre-pull Parts (or order parts not in stock), as the trade-in is stocked into UC inventory.
What do you feel is the most effective way for large scale used car operations to address technician Staffing for the reconditioning process, a dedicated used car team or filtering all vehicles through the shop?
I think that a big piece of the reason that there is a massive Technician shortage is due to massive inneficiencies in the typical Service Department tech stack. The inefficiencies of downtime, waiting on R.O. approvals, technology automation not pre-pulling parts the night before, duplicate leads, failing to "roll" R.O. appointments, and unnecessary interruptions during diagnostic work contribute so many inefficiencies that it creates a massive tech shortage.
As for the workload distribution?
There is definitely an advantage by keeping things consistent, so I would distribute new and CPO through the entire shop. I've always had the most luck with dedicated UC technicians handling all off-brand used cars. But every situation is different, and I've seen dealerships running Lateral Support, SuperTeam, Simple Support groups, various support structures achieve success doing it differently.
What's the most exciting project you are working on at Cars.com right now and why?
It's not often that you get an opportunity to be a part of something that could change the trajectory of an industry. The team at CARS is working on a few projects that will be released in the near future, that will change the future of automotive retail...forever.
