Automotive News - February 11, 2008 - (Page 20) 20 • FEBRUARY 11, 2008 ADESA pushing hard for 50% gain in market share Arlena Sawyers asawyers@crain.com Flight plan ADESA Inc., the No. 2 auto auction company, is working to boost its U.S. market share by half within five years. In the past year, ADESA has shaken up its management team and corporate culture, says CEO Jim Hallett. He predicts ADESA’s new approach will help the company raise its market share from about 20 percent last year to 30 percent in the next three to five years. Industry-leading Manheim has a U.S. market share of more than 50 percent. ADESA, of Carmel, Ind., is upgrading its online technology, bringing “ work in-house and standardizing practices across its 59 auction sites, Hallett said. ADESA auctions sold about 2 million used vehicles in 2007. Hallett, 54, rejoined ADESA last April. He had left two years earlier in We got a new management team together. We met with our customers. We started to work on things our customers wanted. JIM HALLETT ADESA ” a dispute with the company’s former owners. “We got a new management team together,” Hallett told Automotive News. “We met with our customers. We started to work on things our cus- tomers wanted and started to bring back the culture and values.” ADESA has a new marketing tag line: “Working Wonders.” The company seeks to create a consistent identity for its 44 U.S. auction sites, its ADESA wants to boost its share of the U.S. auto auction market from about 20% in 2007 to 30% within 5 years. To that end, ADESA has Changed its management team and corporate culture Upgraded its online technology Brought work in-house and standardized practices at its 59 auction sites Named a panel of commercial customers to advise ADESA and monitor its progress 14 Canadian auctions and its site in Mexico, says Carol Sewell, ADESA’s vice president of marketing. CEO comeback Hallett joined ADESA in 1993 as president of its Canadian operations. He was president of ADESA Corp., a subsidiary of ADESA Inc., when the company’s previous owners fired him in 2005, he said. Hallett rejoined ADESA last year after the company was bought and taken private by KAR Holdings, a group of private equity funds. Since his return, Hallett said, ADESA has gone from being a “bureaucratic political machine” to a flexible, entrepreneurial company. Mark Lindenmuth, senior manager of remarketing sales for Nissan and Infiniti Remarketing Services, says he is impressed with Hallett’s efforts to build personal relations with ADESA customers. Lindenmuth sits on an eight-member “accountability committee” of commercial customers that Hallett named to advise ADESA and monitor its progress. “He calls on guys like me,” Lindenmuth says of Hallett “It’s easy to get things done when you know people.” Hallett said customers have urged ADESA to pursue expansion plans and to upgrade its Internet technology. “They said, ‘You need to become more consistent auction to auction if you’re going to become a national chain,’ ” Hallett said. In-house services Customer feedback persuaded ADESA to perform services it previously assigned to vendors, Hallett said. Among them: cutting vehicle keys at major auction sites, installing windshields and fixing dents. “It’s not so much about money as being able to control and standardize your processes,” Hallett said. Lindenmuth says a key fob can cost more than $200 to replace and program. Getting a replacement key at an auction site saves time and aggravation, he says. Last December, ADESA bought Dent Demon, a company that provides paintless dent repair. ADESA also has developed a system called Vehicle Tracking, Repair and Condition Enhancement, or V-TRACE, and has introduced it at its auctions. V-TRACE electronically records charges for services that ADESA performs on vehicles, such as reconditioning and body repair. V-TRACE now allows ADESA to enter fees for services directly into its auction management system. Hallett said that change from multiple data entries improves efficiency and reduces errors. c http://www.protective.com http://www.protective.com
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