Customer Profile:
Inver Grove Ford Lincoln Mercury
Jeff Siegfried, Parts Manager
Department size: $425,000 in inventory, 9 employees
Located just outside Minneapolis-St. Paul, Inver Grove Ford Lincoln Mercury has successfully grown its business in spite of an economic climate that has other dealers struggling. In a newly remodeled facility and having just acquired the Lincoln and Mercury lines, the dealership saw sales growth in 2009 for new cars, used cars, wholesale fleet and service.
Jeff Siegfried, Parts Manager at Inver Grove Ford Lincoln Mercury, attributes the dealership's success to aggressive marketing, excellent customer service, and finding revenue in unlooked-for places. For example, in his parts inventory.
"You can't run your department like you would have run it 35 years ago," says Siegfried. "You have to pay much closer attention to your days supply on both your fast and slow moving parts."
With more than 35 years in the dealership parts business, Siegfried has successfully followed the methods of parts guru Mike Nicholes. It's helped him improve fill-off-the-shelf for the service department technicians without a significant increase in inventory investment as well as given him better control of daily stock order implementation and automatic stock replenishment. With limited warehouse space and a service department that has kept customers happy with quick turn-around, Siegfried looks for resources to help him run his department more effectively.
"Easy Money"
In November of 2009, Siegfried discovered DealerMine. Within weeks he was generating thousands in extra revenue without bringing on extra staff or investing time outside business hours.
"It's really simple," he says. "I clear out our aged inventory and fill that space with our fastest moving parts at half price." Siegfried was not new to online parts moving services, having used several of the major ones. But he found he got the best response from DealerMine.
"I soon found I was getting a lot more activity on DealerMine for the same transaction fees." He also found it the easiest to use. "The confirmation emails look just like my regular stock orders. I see 12 month order history and everything else at a glance." After three or four transactions he felt very comfortable with the system and now does deals every day as time allows.
"You don't need to have a huge inventory. You just need to stay on top of your deals every day." Siegfried has also discovered that there is significant money to be made in deals under $200. "Some guys think a $50 order isn't worth their time. But if I can make $25 for my dealership in a couple of minutes, I want to do it. It's easy money."
Because DealerMine carefully screens each new customer, parts managers don't need to use a company credit card. Transactions are completed with an open account just like a regular part order.
As the auto industry begins its slow recovery, Siegfried says it's important for every employee to help their dealership make money any way they can.
"When you can show your owner or GM that your department is bringing in thousands in additional revenue each month, it's good for everybody."