The three hours spent Sunday afternoon developing a business plan during the deep-dive workshop at the opening of the NIADA BHPH Dealer Forum in New Orleans was more than worth the time for Rodolfo Enriquez.
“I’ve never had as informative of a class. This is the best session I’ve been to,” said Enriquez of Bells Auto Sales in Austin, Texas. “It was not just conceptual. There were real numbers.”
The Building of a Business Plan led by Byrider’s Ben Goodman was one of three workshops that drew rave reviews from participants. CarMart’s Doug Turner taught a workshop on inventory management. Neill Waters helped dealers build their brand and sales pipeline.
All three workshops featured dealers asking questions and holding engaging conversations about how they run their businesses.
“We had great conversations. That’s important,” Turner said. “We had so much experience in here. It was a huge opportunity to take away information.”
During Turner’s session, dealers looked at different strategies for getting cars on their lots, including how to prepare for auctions. Dealers talked about what they look for in vehicles and the formation of a buy list.
“It was very informative. Everyone was chipping in and bouncing ideas off each other,” said Kathy Silvestre, general manager of Sorensen Auto Plaza in Shenandoah, Iowa.
Silvestre said the discussion helped her consider how to quit pouring unnecessary money into a problem vehicle.
In the sales and branding workshop, dealers looked at their websites and how to use it to generate leads. Dealers also shared successful referral campaigns.
“We had good engagement. They wanted to talk and share,” Waters said. “I was learning from them.”
Along with looking at their sales numbers, recon costs and capital needs, dealers had the opportunity to hear the different business models used by their peers in the building a business plan session.
“It was interesting to hear the different models from what we do,” said John Vander Pluym of Grow Automotive in St. Louis, Missouri.
Goodman and Tim Bullock, who helped with the session, said there were a lot of good perspectives shared.
“It went fantastic. There was a lot of engagement and lots of great questions,” Goodman said.
Before the workshops, ComplyAuto’s Brad Miller gave dealers an update on the Federal Trade Commission’s CARS rule.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans heard 30-minute oral arguments from attorneys representing the plaintiffs National Automobile Dealers Association and the Texas Automobile Dealers Association and the defendant the FTC in October.
The CARS rule was finalized in December 2023 by the FTC and it was set to go into effect July 30, 2024. The FTC issued a stay of the regulation, which remains in place, shortly after the NADA and TADA filed their lawsuit.
The rule would require dealers to provide consumers with an offering price, disclose all optional add-ons and give information about total payment when discussing the monthly payment. There are additional disclosures and recordkeeping of communications with customers required.
NIADA and the Texas IADA joined the efforts to stop the Federal Trade Commission from enforcing the vehicle shopping rule.
Miller said it is a flawed rule and shared that the atmosphere has improved to challenge the rule. Miller pointed to the Republican Donald Trump’s election victory along with Republicans winning control of the Senate and House. He added that the Supreme Court’s striking down Chevron deference, limiting federal agencies’ interpretation of laws.
After the workshops, dealers closed the first day of the Dealer Forum with a fun night at the Sazerac House. Dealers enjoyed an opportunity to network and take in the history of the Sazerac cocktail.
See photos from the Dealer Forum here.
