AUTOMOTIVE ADVERTISING & MARKETING

Christy Roman Selected to Speak at Major Conference

Christy Roman Selected to Speak at Major Conference

JKRAdvertising / Uncategorized /

January 17, 2018

Christy Roman, founder of Women in Automotive and president of NOW Digital, will speak at the inaugural Agent2021 Conference in Miami on January 24. Held at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, this first-of-its-kind conference brings together agents and business owners in four major industries – real estate, automotive, insurance and travel – showing them innovative ways to digitally drive their businesses.

The concept for the combined conference comes from digital-first marketer Gary Vaynerchuk. Experts from digital media’s most successful platforms and brands from around the country will discuss digital and social media-driven tactics and strategies that attendees can deploy immediately to grow their companies.

Roman, one of the country’s most respected female leaders in the automotive industry, headlines a panel titled, “Borrowing Equity: Influencer Marketing for the Auto Industry”.

“I’m thrilled to be part of a progressive conference that places such an emphasis on driving digital business,” said Roman. “Online advertising strategies are so unique and non-traditional that many businesses do not know they are missing out on big opportunities. This is a chance for major industry attendees to learn a lot in just one day.”

Roman is the founder of Women in Automotive. WIA is a well-respected collection of industry leaders focused on empowering and developing women in the automotive sector. Its mission is to assist the automotive community on recruiting, retaining, and developing female employees and leaders.

She also founded her own company in 2009. NOW Digital is a different kind of digital agency, covering all the basics and much more. In addition to online graphic design, Website updates, e-mail marketing, social media and reputation management, NOW Digital helps automobile dealers manage all their digital assets while ensuring advertising dollars are being spent wisely. Its unique “90 Days from NOW” program provides comprehensive digital marketing and best practice strategies.

NOW Digital became part of the JKR Advertising & Marketing family in November 2014.

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Post-Pandemic Dealer Gross Profits are Down – But They Don’t Have to Stay There!
March 13, 2024
It is no secret that dealer gross profits per vehicle are down sharply in the post-COVID automotive world. According to a recent article in Automotive News, gross profits of the six largest publicly traded dealership groups plunged significantly from Q4 2022 to Q4 2023. One of them was actually down 35% per vehicle!

The article explains: High interest rates, more expensive vehicles and a steadier post-pandemic supply chain continue to soften demand and bring it closer to pre-pandemic levels. Still, new-car buying has remained strong overall …

This means that, while sales volume is similar, overall bottom lines are lower for many dealers due to the reduced gross profits. What about your dealership?

Being Realistic
It’s time to turn the page! The time for dealers to simply be order takers for people willing to pay MSRP for a vehicle (and in some cases more) has passed and dealers have to work hard once again to achieve acceptable gross profits.

Selling a high volume of cars doesn’t control gross profits, no matter how much you wish this was the case. Correct processes and menu pricing – and strict adherence to them – do!

What kind of processes?
∙ Slow down the transaction! Your sales staff has to once again sell the customer on the features and benefits of every new and pre-owned vehicle on your lot.

∙ Your salespeople and managers should devalue the customers’ trade-in value (politely, of course) as much as possible. After all, if the customer expects you to lower your price, shouldn’t you be able to do the same on their trade? Remember, you’ll have to fix it up, put your name on it and resell it to someone else with all the tenacity you would a brand-new car. So make sure you buy it right … because the profit is made when you buy it, not when you sell it!

∙ To that end, management should be ready and willing to leave the desk and do thorough walk-arounds on each trade to ensure the best outcome for the dealership.

The Cure for Low Gross Profits
If you are like a lot of dealers these days, you could use some good news. Here it is: while you may not have the capability to achieve profit margins similar to those you enjoyed during the pandemic, they could likely be improved. JKR’s clients enjoy the benefit of attracting not only more customers, but better ones, too!

If meeting and exceeding your sales goals (and increasing gross profits at the same time) sounds great to you, you need to call us. Don’t settle for reduced gross profits when help is out there to get you closer to where you’d like to be.

Want to know how we do it? Reach out to Senior Partner Richard Brauns (407) 701-4233 or Partner/Vice President Jon Albert (407) 718-2494 today.

JKR Automotive Advertising: We Move Cars.

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