Digital Dealer - August 2018 - 30

C O V E R S TO RY ( Continued from pg. 29)

the practice green and hit a few chips
and putts. When he's ready, he's going
to move on to the first tee, and he does
this routine the same every day. We
take the same approach.
QUESTION: As someone who has
moved up through the ranks over the
years, working different jobs within a
dealership, and who is now the owner,
what is your management philosophy?
For instance, would you say you're
more of a hands-on or hands-off
manager?
ANSWER: To say I am "hands-on"
might be the understatement of the
year. I'm in one of the stores working
on the floor every day for at least six
days a week. I love what I do, I love
the business. It's fun. It's exciting.
And it's a family affair. My wife works
with me, my son works with me. My
daughter, when she's not in college,
works with me. My brother works with
me; his father-in-law works here. It's a
fun business and a real family effort.
QUESTION: What do you look for
when hiring new employees?
ANSWER: Passion, integrity,
character and a willingness to serve.
We're in a service-oriented business.
So, if you're not that service-oriented
person, this is probably the wrong
business for you. Our employees
realize it is a privilege and an honor to
help someone get a new car. Buying a
car is an exciting time for people, and
we want to be just as excited for them
as they are.
QUESTION: Could you discuss your
use of dealerships tools, such as CRM
and DMS?
ANSWER: We use Reynolds &
Reynolds. We've been with them
for a long time and enjoy a good
partnership. For our CRM, we use
VIN Solutions. They're great tools. I
appreciate the technology itself, but
without people who know how to use
those tools, they're empty things. The
key is the people using and perfecting
using those tools. In the old days, car
salesmen used to stand out in front of
30

AUGUST 2018

the dealership waiting for something
to happen. Today's automobile sales
professionals are living in the CRM
and are making things happen.
They're proactive, not reactive.
In addition to the DMS and CRM,
we also utilize artificial intelligence
services. We work with video
companies to send video responses to
text, email, and phone requests. When
people ask about specific vehicles on
our lot, we like to send them video
when we can.
QUESTION: Does Sunset use thirdparty providers for lead generation?
ANSWER: We're trying to brand
our own group website more -
SunsetAutoFamily.com - and get
away from the dependence of thirdparty lead providers. Unless your
marketing strategy is to have the
lowest price, if dealers are being
honest, they would eliminate the use
of third-party lead providers. Now, I
don't want to pick on third-party lead
providers, but just the notion that
dealers spend thousands of dollars
every year - millions collectively -
to send a customer to a third-party
source where they look at your
competitors' cars and prices doesn't
make much sense to me. All of those
third-party lead providers are pricedriven and default search results to
price. Contrary to popular opinion,
most customers are not looking at
price first. It is the dealership that
introduces price thinking that will
sell the vehicle. That is not how I
shop for anything, do you? Most
customers want to find what they like
first, and then get the most value for
their money. That is where Sunset
has the advantage over most other
dealerships. We just give the customer
more...and people do like that!
When it comes to marketing, it
seems as if nearly every dealership
is in a price race to the bottom right
now and that's just not who we are.
We're a value proposition store, and
we build value into the products we

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

sell. We might not always offer the
lowest price, but we will always offer
the best value, which is what people
really want. Again, we are making
the investment in the customer, not
just the car deal. That IS our secret
sauce! Fortunately for us, most
dealerships do not grasp that concept
and are instead focusing on just the
next car deal. We are focusing on
all the future car deals for all family
members for life.
QUESTION: Could you walk me
through your sales process?
ANSWER: We have a sales system
here that makes the process very
transparent. We give customers the
MSRP, invoice on new cars, and show
what it costs us to acquire a vehicle,
including the cost of reconditioning,
what we did to the vehicle in the
service department, and more.
It's a full-transparency shopping
experience for our customers. I think
that has a great deal to do with the
success of Sunset Chevrolet and the
rapid growth of the Sunset Auto
Family. We were able to acquire a
Ford store, a Kia store, a Mitsubishi
store, and an independent truck lot,
all within a 36-month period due
largely to this business philosophy
and our Warranty Protection for Life
value proposition.
There are plenty of dealers out
there who really believe price sells.
In my experience, there are a lot
of reasons why people buy other
than price. After all, no dealership
has a competitive advantage in
product, price or financing. We all
pay basically the same price, use the
same lenders, evaluate used vehicles
using the same guides. Long-term
success in this business will be
determined by what you provide your
customer beyond the vehicle, price,
and payment. No one wins a race to
the bottom.
QUESTION: How important is
social media to your business model?
ANSWER: It's becoming more
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - August 2018
