JDS Automotive Group
JDS Automotive owns 5 INFINITI dealerships across the Ohio and Michigan areas.
Challenge
The JDS management team lead by industry veteran and COO Steve Kight had a vision for how car buying should be. They felt that the buying process should be simpler and that customers should be able to do as much online as possible to get in and out of the dealership quickly.
While the group has always been technologically minded, their organizational structure was still very traditional. Each store had 10+ people on the variable ops side between the BDC, Showroom Sales, Sales Managers, and F&I teams. Time was their biggest challenge when it came to customer satisfaction. They knew that the linear fashion of their sales process would have to change in order to see their vision become a reality. The ultimate goal became reducing (or eliminate) the 'friction points' that customers experienced when shopping online or instore.
When COVID-19 hit, Frank Bystricky, the Executive Manager at INFINITI of Akron was tasked with helping the group find a digital retailing solution that could adapt to their ideal sales process, enabling them to sell remotely when customers could no longer come into the showroom. The group worked together to finalize their plan, with INFINITI of Akron being the first store to implement the new process.
Solutions
Before JDS evaluated their digital retailing options, they took the time to map out what they wanted their digitized sales process to look like. Their vision was to have two showrooms with the same process-- one virtual and one physical.
With this goal in mind, JDS onboarded with Roadster across all 5 stores in May of 2020. For JDS, Roadster’s Express Storefront provided more than just a website widget, it had all of the platform capabilities they needed to roll out a fully transparent and consistent process from start to finish.
With the uncertainty that the pandemic placed in front of the group and a digital sales platform to weather the storm-- each store cut their variable ops team in half. They now have 4 Sales Directors who handle deals from A to Z, 2 Sales Assistants, and a centralized BDC-- no F&I and no sales management. Every customer goes through the Roadster platform-- whether they visit their dealership website, come from a 3rd party marketplace or walk into the showroom. Frank loves that he has a helicopter view of the sales process and can see where his customers have left off before making contact with them.
The team is sharing interactive deal sheets with every internet lead, watching the customer’s activity, and then guiding the customer to complete as much of the process online as they are comfortable with. If the customer comes into the showroom, the receptionist checks them into the Roadster platform so that they can pick up where the customer left off.
Not only are customers happier, but JDS employees are too. When speaking to their Sales Directors many of them attribute it to the 'ease' of the process with the customers. The group is now selling more per person than they ever thought possible. Quoting Steve Stauning -- they are on their way to becoming 30 car Theos instead of 8 car Allens.
It isn’t about the tool, it is about putting the right process in place and then finding a technology partner that can digitize it from start to finish. Roadster offered everything we needed to make that happen. I’m not sure how we did business before Roadster, but we are so glad they are here to support us and any changes we make along the way.
Results
Improved Profits
Front end gross profit average Y/Y
Better Close Rates
increase in units sold per salesperson (from 10→20 per month)
Increased F&I
increase in F&I penetration (.70 -->1.2 products/sale)
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