CBT News welcomes Dennis McGinn, Founder and CEO of Rapid Recon. During this segment, Jim and Dennis discuss the benefits of software designed for calibrating reconditioning efficiency.
Dealers are always looking to cut down on the time it takes to move inventory, especially used cars that need reconditioning. Without a system in place to monitor the reconditioning process, it takes an average of 8 to 10 days to have a used car ready for purchase from the time it arrives on the lot. Dennis believes a system like Rapid Recon can cut that time in half.
In addition to improving the time it takes to recondition vehicles, dealers are looking to post their new trade-ins to a third party website as soon as possible. However, Jim notes that if a customer inquires about a used car that is still in reconditioning, it is unlikely that a deal will happen with that customer. But with Rapid Recon, online tracking would be just as easy for the customer as it would be for the employees.
Without the accountability that a reconditioning software has, dealers miss out on selling opportunities for the 49% of customers that drop in regardless of where a used car is in its reconditioning phase. It is this accountability that Dennis believes is the magic ingredient. Dennis explains, “The people want to be accountable if they feel it’s fair, and when they can control it from their phone, they feel it’s fair.” With tracking readily available on the employees’ smartphones, salespersons can reference detailed information about a specific vehicle, and directly relay this information to the customer, ultimately establishing credibility to the dealer.
Jim and Dennis then move on to the million dollar question. What would be a dealer’s return on investment if they were to purchase a software like this? The answer is a more efficient back end of the business. This software can analyze every bottleneck to the reconditioning process, and dial in capacity planning. It will also cut down on associated costs like detailing, ordering replacement parts, and general holding.
With cost analysis built into the software, the amount of savings over the course of 6 months to a year will be easily calculable, making financial adjustments a breeze.
