The biggest advantage for dealers who use one-price selling – Mark Rikess

As dealers continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and digital retailing, more are finding than an easy, frictionless experience for the consumer is the way to go. On today’s show, we talk to Mark Rikess, Founder of Digital Air Strike and CEO of The Rikess Group, about how dealers can benefit from a one-price selling method.

Rikess is well-known throughout the automotive industry as a one-price selling guru and he understands better than anyone how dealers can improve customer retention with this strategy. However, there are a lot of general managers who are in their comfort zones and do not want to try new approaches to selling. They are fearful, and that largely has to do with their income. Rikess recommends that dealers protect the salaries of their GMs for an allotted period of time to get the one-price selling logistics up and running. 

Rikess explains, “One-price selling is primarily a cultural change. It’s not trying to fit the consumer into the way I sell cars, but fit the way I sell cars into the consumer demand and desire…You can’t be frictionless, and transparent, and still try to negotiate.”

Startups like Carvana and Vroom have capitalized enormously on this strategy, and Rikess says that dealers can do the same. In fact, dealer groups like Walser Automotive have used this method successfully for eight years. The group’s CEO, Paul Walser, reports that grosses and volume continue to rise as a result.

For more great insight and expertise from Mark Rikess, be sure to watch our entire interview above.