Digital Dealer - May 2019 - 26

C O V E R S TORY: Continued from pg. 25

brands, especially Hyundai and KIA,
probably have one of the youngest
ownership bases in the entire industry.
By the way, I've had a car dealership
website since 1996. I had one of the
first dealership websites in the world,
and that was two years before Google
was founded. We're in an unusual
place where you might not expect
to find an innovator in the digital
revolution, but we've been heavily
involved with digital marketing
literally since the beginning. I love it.
To this day, I run our Google Adwords
account and do the digital marketing
for the four stores.
DEALER MAGAZINE: How do you
ensure customer satisfaction?
DOUG: I try to always be accessible
myself and make sure my managers
remain accessible. People in Jackson
consider me something of a celebrity
because I've been on local television
for the last thirty years. Everybody
knows I own the dealership, so when
they have an issue or a problem, I'm
not that hard to find. I think it helps
customer satisfaction because it keeps
everyone honest. I better keep this
customer happy otherwise I'm going
to hear from Doug, and he's not going
to be happy if I didn't handle the
customer properly.
DEALER MAGAZINE: What's ahead
for Wilson Auto Group?
DOUG: We'd like to continue to
grow our group. My favorite business
model is to have general managers
who own some equity in their store,
and they are more than a general
manager, they're an operating partner.
In competing in a marketplace where
some general managers will not have
those opportunities, I think it makes
our group stand out. We are a place
for that guy who wants to own a piece
of the action.
DEALER MAGAZINE: I'd like to
go back to your presentation about
disruptors. There's much talk in the
industry about how ride sharing and
autonomous vehicles, for instance, will
26

M AY 2 0 1 9

impact the business. Is it too early for
such concern?
DOUG: I think that if somehow
suddenly the government mandated
that everyone drive electric vehicles
and completely outlawed the internal
combustion engine, I think there's
enough ICE vehicles on the road
today-2018s and 2019s already sold,
not to mention older ones-to last
decades in terms of a used car market
for those used vehicles, as well as
service and parts.
If the pundits are correct and people
give up the right to own their own
vehicle, which I am not convinced is
what people want, if that car is going
to be in service all day, taking people
around and not just taking me to work
and sitting in my parking lot, that
means the number of miles driven is
not going to come down, it's going to
go up.
Electric vehicles need service, too.
On average, they're going to weigh
30 percent more than an ICE car, so
they'll wear out their brakes faster.
They're going to need tires and
alignments and wheel balancing and
air filters and windshield wiper blades
and so on. There's no such thing as a
car that doesn't need maintenance.
That's really the buzzword now:
industries that technology can
disrupt. Wall Street is looking for
the next television set, the next
Apple computer, the next Google or
whatever. You know what? The car
business got disrupted by the internet,
starting back in 1996. So, now we have
complete transparency. If you don't
have your car listed on the internet,
it ain't for sale. I tell my used car
managers, if your car is not listed with
a price, then it ain't for sale because
it's invisible to customers. It's been
that way a long time. But, if you look
at other industries, it's not like that in
those segments. I think the disruption
that the internet and the computer has
done has introduced transparency.
Now consumers can know what

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

markup we have on a car, what their
trade-in will be, what their credit is
and so on.
All I know is, if you have a strong
used car operation and service and
parts department, you can survive
pretty much anything.
DEALER MAGAZINE: What advice
do you have for anyone considering
the car business as their career?
DOUG: The way I understand it,
there's over $300 billion a year that
changes hands in the car business,
and that's just on new vehicles alone.
The used car market is twice the size
of the new car market. So, that's over
a billion dollars a day that is going to
change hands in the new car business
before you lay your head on a pillow
tonight. My advice to a young person
would be to get in an industry where
there's a lot of money, and there's big
money in the car business.
I developed a sales meeting where I
show a picture of an old cross-cut saw
and a picture of a modern chain saw
and ask which one would you rather
try to cut down a tree with? The "saw"
is an acronym for "skills, attitude, and
work habit."
Your communication skills, product
knowledge, closing skills, telephone
skills, all the skills you need to be good
at your chosen vocation. Then there's
your attitude: what's your attitude
toward the industry and toward
your brand, your used car manager,
your fellow employees? And most
especially, your attitude toward your
customers. Do you make derogatory
comments about customers and put
them down? If you do, you're in the
wrong business. And finally, their
work habits. You must be present
to win. We all know, the harder you
work, the luckier you get.
If you have the right "saw," I think
you can be very successful in the car
business. It's a great business and it's
been very good to me. I love it. To me,
it's still fun, and I couldn't imagine
doing anything else. ■
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