Also in this issue:
– Michael W. Dunagan – Heroes I’ve Known: Jim Watson
– The Last Frontier for Process Improvement: Separating Sales and Marketing
– Payments & Arrangements: Creating Effective Collections Calls
– Why Your Dealership Should Have a Retargeting Strategy
BUY - Source vehicles nationwide confidently with trust and transparency
SELL - Access dealers nationwide who are looking for exactly what you’re selling
VALUE - Get the most up-to-date wholesale pricing in the market
DON’T MISS OUT ON INVENTORY WITH ACV
TIADA Board of Directors
PRESIDENT
Ryan Winkelmann/BJ’s Autohaus
5005 Telephone Road Houston, TX 77087
PRESIDENT ELECT
Eddie Hale/Neighborhood Autos
PO Box 1719
Decatur TX 76234
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
Mark Jones/MCMC Corporate
264 Exchange Burleson, TX 76028
SECRETARY
Vicki Davis/A-OK Auto Sales
23980 FM 1314 Porter, TX 77365
TREASURER
Greg Phea/Austin Rising Fast 8024 IH 35 North Austin TX 78753
VICE PRESIDENT, WEST TEXAS (REGION 1)
Brad Kalivoda/Fiesta Motors
2599 74th Street
Lubbock, TX 79423
VICE PRESIDENT, FORT WORTH (REGION 2)
Greg Reine/Auto Liquidators
39670 LBJ Freeway Dallas TX 75237
VICE PRESIDENT, DALLAS (REGION 3)
Chad Lancaster/Chacon Autos
11800 E. Northwest Hwy Dallas TX 75218
VICE PRESIDENT, HOUSTON (REGION 4)
Russell Moore/Top Notch Used Cars
900 East Davis Conroe, TX 77301
VICE PRESIDENT, CENTRAL TEXAS (REGION 5)
Robert Blankenship/Texas Auto Center
6809 Suite B S IH35 Austin, TX 78744
VICE PRESIDENT, SOUTH TEXAS (REGION 6)
Armando Villarreal/McAllen Auto Sales, LLC
4215 S. 23rd St McAllen, TX 78503
VICE PRESIDENT AT LARGE
Lowell Rogers/11th Street Motors
1355 N 11th St, Beaumont, TX 77702
VICE PRESIDENT AT LARGE
Cesar Stark/S&S Motors 7699 Alameda Ave. El Paso, TX 77915
One of the many benefits that we enjoy by being a member of TIADA is our association’s commitment to making sure that our dealers and associate members are fully aware of any new State or Federal compliance requirements. Such is the case with the new FTC Safeguards Rules that took effect this month, on June 9, 2023.* As many of you are aware, these new rules were originally set to take effect on December 9, 2022, but the FTC extended that date to give small business owners the extra time needed to implement the new requirements properly.
Thankfully (as usual), TIADA was out in front of these changes and developed a simple way for dealers all across the country to understand and implement the required rule changes without having to spend a lot of your hard-earned money. Simply visit dealereducationportal.com, and you can train and certify yourself and all your employees on-demand online.
For those of you reading this today who are unaware of the new rules — please allow me to give you a quick summary of some of the most important items you should have had in place by June 9, 2023.
Your company should have a person designated and named as your “qualified individual” who oversees your security program at your business. (The TIADA course has a specific training session for this individual
by Mark Jones MCMC Corporate (Burleson) TIADA CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
that covers what the QI needs to know.)
You should have a written risk assessment in place that includes your business periodically assessing not only your practices but also those of the service providers you use. (The TIADA course provides sample policies and agreements you can customize for your business at no additional charge.)
Your company should have clearly defined systems in place to monitor and limit who has access to your customers’ sensitive information. All sensitive information should also be encrypted for further protection.
You should develop an incident response plan that can be implemented quickly if your customers’ information is stolen or compromised.
Your company should implement multi-factor authentication inside your systems for any employees and vendors with access to your customers’ private information.
You should ensure that all employees with access to your customers’ private information are properly trained and regularly complete a qualified course documented in their HR file. (The TIADA course awards a certificate of training completion once your employee has completed the course and passed the online test — free of charge.)
Your company should have clearly defined systems in place to monitor and limit who has access to your customers’ sensitive information.
July
23 Board of Directors Meeting
JW Marriott Hill Country Resort
San Antonio, TX
23-25 TIADA Conference and Expo
JW Marriott Hill Country Resort
San Antonio, TX
CORPUS CHRISTI
G.R. Moore
The Car Shack
(dates announced at www.txiada.org)
EL PASO
Cesar Stark
S & S Motors
Meeting – 3rd Friday (Monthly)
FORT WORTH
Jerry Smith
H J Smith Automobiles
(dates announced at www.txiada.org)
HOUSTON
Robert Edenfield
Mi Pueblo BRP
Meeting – 2nd Tuesday (Monthly)
SAN ANTONIO
Jose Engler
Irving Motors Corp
(dates announced at www.txiada.org)
At first glance, some of these items sound like they would be difficult and expensive to implement, but the explanations and guidance that you will receive if you take the course will most certainly leave you with the realization that you are probably already doing many of the things required — you may just need to make some adjustments and add an extra layer of protection in some areas of your business.
Unfortunately, stolen identities and fraud have become rampant in our society today. Making sure that we all do our part to protect both our customers’ and our employees’ private and personal information is one of the responsibilities we assume as independent automobile dealers and good citizens. I know
that not all dealers in the State of Texas will follow these new FTC rules — but I also know that dealers who choose to be part of our great association are different. We care about doing the right thing and running our businesses in a compliant fashion.
Thanks for being a member of TIADA — now go buy and sell some cars!
*Editor’s Note: You are reading this article after the June 9 deadline. If you have not already taken the Safeguards Course, please do so as soon as possible, as failure to do so would mean you are not in compliance with the FTC’s guidelines. (https://www.txiada.org/ safeguards-rule)
The 88th Legislative Session is over, and it was a busy one for our industry. A record-breaking 8,046 House and Senate bills were filed, with only 1,246 passing. That is a passing rate of 15%, which is virtually the same as the 87th Session. TIADA had a tremendously successful session, thanks to the collaborative efforts of our team, our members, and key legislators from the Texas House and Senate. We stopped some bad legislation from passing, had legislation pass that we requested, and had the legislature make significant changes to legislation based on TIADA’s feedback.
Rep. Cody Harris along with TIADA member Rep. Sam Harless as a joint author introduced legislation that will eliminate vehicle inspections. Independent dealers often have difficulty getting their vehicles inspected for numerous reasons, but soon that will not be a problem. HB 3297 authored by Rep. Cody Harris with joint author Rep. Sam Harless, eliminates inspections for noncommercial vehicles, but keeps in place emissions checks in counties that require emissions as that is required by federal law. The bill takes effect on January 1, 2025.
TIADA Crushed the Crusher Bill. In 2019, TIADA first encountered legislation proposed by metal recycling companies that aimed to allow the dismantling, scraping, or crushing of vehicles without a title. One such bill, HB 1087, was introduced during that session, which suggested that vehicles at least 10 years old could be processed without a title. In prior years these bills were passed out of committees and stopped just short of the finish line. This Session a total of three bills were introduced that would have allowed vehicles to be dismantled without a title. TIADA members testified during committee hearings and the bills did not receive a vote out of committee this year. TIADA President Ryan Winkelmann delivered testimony related to how a junk yard crushed his vehicle and ignored his lien. TIADA member Christina Sabillon testified as to how the law would affect a lienholder’s ability to work with customers, and TIADA Past President Brent Rhodes testified as to how the law was unnecessary as a method already exists to deal with the problem metal recyclers claimed made the change in law necessary. Finally, Senator Perry
by TIADA Staffwas extremely vocal in his support for TIADA’s position during the Senate committee hearing... If you see these members, please thank them for taking the time to come to Austin to testify on short notice as their efforts helped ensure a lienholder’s lien is protected.
Rep. Ed Thompson introduced legislation at request of TIADA. In 2019, TIADA worked with Rep. Ed Thompson to require insurers who sell named-driver-only policies to specifically name each excluded driver and not allow for an excluded class of drivers. This session, Rep. Thompson continued to address concerns with the insurance industry and make it a top priority of his. Two of his bills related to auto insurance passed, specifically HB 2065 and HB 4142.
HB 2065 requires insurance companies not to renew an insurance policy when the insured failed to cooperate in a third-party liability claim or action. TIADA reached out to Rep. Thompson to express concerns that insurance companies were not including the name of lienholders on insurance checks and how a remedy was impractical in many cases under current law because attorney fees often exceeded the amount of the check. As a result of that conversation, Rep. Thompson introduced HB 4142 which amends Property Code Chapter 61 to provide that a prevailing party in a lawsuit can recover attorney fees and court costs. This law will go in effect on September 1, 2023.
TIADA worked with Senator Alvarado on legislation related to the prosecution of and punishment for theft of a catalytic converter. TIADA attended numerous stakeholder meetings with Senator Alvarado during the last interim to help her draft legislation to address this issue. During those meetings, law enforcement brought up the difficulty of prosecuting people who are clearly stealing catalytic converters. Often law enforcement will pull over someone who has numerous cut catalytic converters in their possession but is unable to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the catalytic converters are stolen as it is nearly impossible to tie a catalytic converter to a particular vehicle. The solution SB 224 offers is that it creates a presumption a person in possession of property consisting of one or more catalytic converters that have been removed
from a motor vehicle is presumed to have unlawfully appropriated the property unless the person is the owner of the motor vehicle or has a legitimate business purpose for possession of the property. This bill was effective immediately except Sections 1956.001(6-b) and (7) and 1956.030 Occupations Code which are effective July 1, 2023.
TIADA advocated for changes to the bill that eliminates all paper temporary tags. HB 718 mandates numerous significant changes for our industry, including the elimination of all paper temporary tags. Law enforcement was very vocal in the necessity of eliminating paper tags due to counterfeiting of paper tags and the difficulty of using license plate recognition technology to obtain information on paper plates.
One change TIADA asked for was the effective date to allow TIADA more time to work through the administrative process and ensure dealers did not face any unintended consequences. Most legislation
takes effect on September 1 of the same year it is passed, TIADA and other stakeholders asked for and were granted an effective date of July 1, 2025.
TIADA advocated for a new type of license plate for demo drives. The introduced legislation eliminated vehicle and agent specific tags without offering an alternative. The legislature initially envisioned dealers could use their dealer plates that they already had and believed dealers would acquire additional dealer plates to meet the extra need caused by the elimination of these two types of temporary tags. TIADA expressed numerous concerns with this method of replacing those types of tags. First, TIADA was concerned about the additional expense dealers face, specifically the yearly cost of dealer plates and the possibility of higher insurance premiums. Next, TIADA expressed concern about dealers’ inability to limit the use of those plates. As a result, the passed legislation creates a new type of plate that has similar uses to agent specific tags. These
tags will cost dealers a onetime fee of $10 compared to yearly fees for dealer plates.
A few other notable requirements of this bill are all dealers must start using WebDealer and metal tags will remain with a vehicle when they are traded and placed back on the vehicle when it is sold. The next step to implementation of this law is for TxDMV to propose rules and TIADA will provide feedback about those proposed rules. Afterwards, TxDMV will issue final rules. Therefore, much of the requirements of this bill are not fully known as there is much work still to be done. TIADA will update you as more information becomes available.
These are just a few of the numerous bills TIADA worked on and highlights of the bills and advocacy efforts of TIADA. For more information, please reach out to TIADA or visit the Texas Legislature website. TIADA, being engaged with the legislature, helps ensure dealers had a voice on the laws impacting automobile dealers. This would not be possible without dealers like you who are members of TIADA and our numerous INDEPAC donors who help TIADA support political candidates that support our industry. Finally, a quick thank you to all of legislative committee members, members who testified, members who provided feedback to us while the session was ongoing, and everyone else who helped us have a strong and knowledgeable voice at the Capitol.
Your best source of up-to-theminute information on legislative issues that will affect your industry is the Legislative Action Center, found under Advocacy at the TIADA website, www.txiada.org. As always, we welcome the input of our members regarding legislative matters. TIADA’s legislative team will work diligently to keep you abreast of the issues and call on you to act when needed.
In the 2019 Tom Hanks film, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” a cynical reporter is assigned to interview Fred Rogers as part of a series of magazine articles on heroes. Rogers had created the PBS program Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, a program acclaimed as bringing positive values to generations of young people. Although the reporter at first felt the assignment was beneath his professional level and reputation, he ended up admiring Rogers and having his life changed for the better because of meeting and interviewing Rogers.
I’ve met many interesting and successful people in close to a half-century representing TIADA, and among those were more than a few whom I would refer to as heroes — folks who changed the businesses and lives of those who came along after them for the better. One of the Texas dealers who definitely deserves the title of hero is Jim (Jimmy Boy) Watson, who in my estimation is the father of deferred sales tax for Texas Buy-Here-Pay-Here dealers.
Deferred sales tax has become the life blood of the BHPH business in Texas. One nationally recognized industry accounting expert referred to the deferred sales tax law in Texas as one of the most favorable sales tax situations for BHPH dealers in the country. He pointed to the direct benefit to dealers of only having to remit tax on payments after they are received as part of the business environment for Texas dealers that gives rise to envy by dealers in other states. But it wasn’t always that way.
Prior to passage by the Texas Legislature of TIADA’s so-called Fair Tax Bill in 1993, dealers were
responsible for advancing the total amount of the sales tax at the time of transfer of title. And there was no provision in the law for obtaining a refund if a debtor quit paying (there was a bad debt credit available for sellers who financed things other than motor vehicles). There were many situations where dealers would front the sales tax money in order to transfer the title and record their lien, only to have the customer skip or default. Paying sales tax on money never collected resulted in an effective sales tax rate that could exceed 20 or 30 per cent or more of all revenue collected from customers, according to one accountant’s analysis.
The only way a BHPH dealer could avoid having to advance sales tax was to deliver the title certificate to the buyer at the time of sale, which dealers who wanted to protect their liens were not willing to do.
The problem came to a head in the early 1990’s when the comptroller’s office discovered that many dealers were not transferring titles on skips and repossessions, and thus not advancing the sales tax. A series
by Michael W. Dunagan TIADA COUNSELof audits of large volume dealers resulted in some million dollar-plus assessments.
Many dealers were caught in a Catch 22-like bind — either timely transfer all sales and advance sales tax and face economic disaster, or continue to pick-and-choose on transfers and face huge tax assessments. One West Texas dealer, who had chosen the second alternative, was actually indicted and charged with felony tax fraud for doing what many dealers around the state were doing (the case was eventually dismissed after the fair tax bill was passed).
One dealer and future TIADA president decided it was time to do something about the problem. Jim Watson, who owned Chaparral Motors in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, had been involved in prior unsuccessful efforts to get the law changed. Legislators and lobbyists, after hearing the concerns of dealers and recommendations for a change to the tax code, were unanimous in their assessments — “there’s no way it will ever happen.” Fortunately, Watson wasn’t listening.
One of the Texas dealers who definitely deserves the title of hero is Jim (Jimmy Boy) Watson, who in my estimation is the father of deferred sales tax for Texas Buy-Here-Pay-Here dealers.
Watson was no stranger to the political scene and was often referred to as the “mayor of Jefferson Boulevard.” His car lot office on Jefferson Blvd. was often the informal meeting place for local politicos. As a leader in the Oak Cliff Lion’s Club, his Masonic Lodge, and a member of the Top of the Cliff Club, Watson was well known in the area by elected officials. One might see the Dallas Police Chief, the Dallas County Sheriff, the Dallas County District Attorney, the local Constable, or any of a number of police officers and deputies there at any given time.
Many local charities and community services became the beneficiaries of his fund-raising talents and generosity.
Watson was also a mainstay of TIADA and a dedicated member and leader. He had served as president of the Dallas County IADA, and had led it to record membership. He and his wife Belinda could be seen at many DCIADA or TIADA events.
After Watson and Belinda were married, he adopted Belinda’s teenaged son, Travis. Watson and Travis became inseparable, both at the car lot and on many hunting and fishing
trips to Mexico and South Texas.
Once, on a return flight to Dallas from Austin, where we had unsuccessfully tried to raise interest in the legislature for vehicle sales tax reform, we talked about what we could do in the future to solve the problem. We decided to try a more organized approach to get dealers involved in the legislative process.
To kick off a renewed effort, Watson invited a group of 18 interested dealers to lunch at the Top of the Cliff Club, which was on the top floor of the only high-rise office building south of the downtown Dallas area. The invited group included some of the most successful dealers in the area — dealers that he knew could influence others to join the battle.
Watson asked me to present a proposal for legislative change to the group. He then asked attendees if they would be committed to seeing the project through. The response was unanimously positive. Watson asked Bill Plaster of Dallas to chair a new committee to raise the funds to put together an effective lobbying program and see to the passage of a “Fair Tax Bill.” In addition to Plaster, Watson enlisted Roy Carlson of Fort Worth and Don Fincher of Houston, both of whom would later serve as TIADA presidents, and Rick Price of Dallas to serve on the steering committee. Watson put down his check as the first contributor.
The committee immediately started raising the $100,000 that the initial budget called for. The committee members pledged the seed money to start the effort. Carlson agreed to serve as treasurer and proved to be a very effective fund raiser. Many dealers were skeptical that anything could be accomplished and hesitated to contribute. But soon the funds had been raised to actively begin working on a fair tax bill.
Part of the strategy for convincing the state that reform was needed was the so-called “zero-tax” initiative. We determined that, if titles could be handed to customers, relieving dealers
of any responsibility for sales tax, it was unlikely that buyers would transfer and pay sales tax. Thus, if the program could be implemented, dealers would have to pay zero tax.
We found that we could register inventory vehicles in dealers’ names as “for resale purposes only” transactions. When title certificates came back from the state, and vehicles were sold, the dealers would then fill in their liens on the title certificates (at that time, a space for notation of liens appeared on the back of titles) and deliver the titles, along with filled out and signed transfer applications, to buyers.
Many dealers were afraid to hand over titles to credit buyers in any circumstance. But Watson volunteered to be the guinea pig. His sales tax liability disappeared, increasing his cash flow. None of his customers transferred titles or paid sales tax, but none tried to wash the lien, either. Based on Watson’s success, other dealers jumped on the “zero-tax” bandwagon, and soon the comptroller’s office noticed a drop off in vehicle sales tax collections from BHPH dealers who were legally shifting tax liability to their customers.
Discussions with the state suddenly began to move in a positive direction. Dealers wanted fairer treatment if they were to be the state’s unpaid tax collectors. The state wanted to set up a formal collection procedure that would insure a steady stream of vehicle sales tax revenue, and an audit trail. The focus of the task force became that of achieving both objectives.
By the time the 1993 legislative session began, the deferred sales tax bill had been filed. Many of the committee members began making weekly trips to the capital to meet with legislators. Comptroller John Sharp had agreed to appoint a task force that included members of his staff, representatives from the Motor Vehicle Division, and a group of dealers including Watson, Plaster and Carlson.
A proposal to authorize refunds for taxes paid on written-off debt was initially looked at, but Sharp felt that
a refund system would be expensive and bulky to administrate. Finally, the task force settled on the idea of a pay-as-you-collect system — which appealed to dealers, and a requirement that dealers would have to obtain a seller-finance sales tax permit and make sales tax payments directly to the state — which appealed to the Comptroller’s office. Once Sharp signed off on the deferred tax plan, the focus shifted to working out the details and shepherding the bill through the legislative process.
We all held our collective breaths until the bill was passed in both houses of the legislature and finally signed by the governor. A series of sales tax workshops were held around the state by TIADA to explain the new system to dealers, and association membership increased significantly. There were some skeptics out there who didn’t think it would work. But I don’t think anyone would now question the wisdom of deferred sales tax for BHPH dealers. And suddenly TIADA became recognized as a major player in state political and legislative circles.
The advantages that all BHPH
dealers now enjoy didn’t happen by accident. Watson had the vision to organize the right people for the job and put the wheels in motion for doing something that others said couldn’t be done. Every time a Texas BHPH dealer transfers a title without having to front sales tax, he or she should think about the dealers who make it possible, especially Jim Watson.
Sadly, Watson passed away in April, 2015. Even though he is gone, his legacy lives on and the fruits of his labors are there for the benefit of TIADA and all Texas BHPH dealers. I feel privileged to have worked along side some of the giants of the independent automobile dealer industry. These folks, and others like them, are truly heroes in my eyes.
Michael W. Dunagan is an attorney in Dallas, Texas who has represented the Texas Independent Automobile Dealers Association for over 45 years. He has written a number of books and hundreds of articles for trade journals and law reviews. His clientele includes dealers, banks, finance companies, auto auctions and credit unions.
Abilene
ALLIANCE AUTO AUCTION ABILENE
www.allianceautoauction.com
6657 US Highway 80 West, Abilene, TX 79605
325.698.4391, Fax 325.691.0263
GM: Brandon Denison
Friday, 10:00 a.m.
$AVE : $200
IAA ABILENE*
www.iaai.com
7700 US 277, Hawley, TX 79601
325.675.0699, Fax 325.675.5073
GM: Shawn Lemke
Thursday, 9:30 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
Amarillo
IAA AMARILLO*
www.iaai.com
11150 S. FM 1541, Amarillo, TX 79118
806.622.1322, Fax 806.622.2678
GM: Shawn Norris
Monday, 9:30 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
Austin
ADESA AUSTIN
www.adesa.com
2108 Ferguson Ln., Austin, TX 78754
512.873.4000, Fax 512.873.4022
GM: Michele Arguijo
Tuesday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : $200
ALLIANCE AUTO AUCTION AUSTIN
www.allianceautoauction.com
1550 CR 107, Hutto, TX 78634
737.300.6300
GM: Brad Wilson
Wednesday, 9:45 a.m.
$AVE : $200
AMERICA’S AA AUSTIN / SAN ANTONIO
www.americasautoauction.com
16611 S. IH-35, Buda, TX 78610
512.268.6600, Fax 512.295.6666
GM: Jamie McCollum
Tuesday, 1:30 p.m. / Thursday, 2:00 p.m.
$AVE : $200
IAA AUSTIN*
www.iaai.com
2191 Highway 21 West, Dale, TX 78616
512.385.3126, Fax 512.385.1141
GM: Geoffrey Rabb
Tuesday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
METRO AUTO AUCTION AUSTIN
www.metroautoauction.com
2221 Hwy 21 W., Dale, TX 78616 512.282.7900, Fax 512.282.8165
GM: Brent Rhodes
3rd Saturday, monthly
$AVE : $200
CORPUS CHRISTI AUTO AUCTION
www.corpuschristiautoauction.com
2149 IH-69 Access Road, Corpus Christi, TX 78380 361.767.4100, Fax 361.767.9840
GM: Hunter Dunn
Friday, 10:00 a.m.
$AVE : $200
IAA CORPUS CHRISTI*
www.iaai.com
4701 Agnes Street, Corpus Christi, TX 78405 361.881.9555, Fax 361.887.8880
GM: Patricia Kohlstrand
Wednesday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
ADESA DALLAS
www.adesa.com
3501 Lancaster-Hutchins Rd., Hutchins, TX 75141 972.225.6000, Fax 972.284.4799
GM: Eric Jenkins
Thursday, 9:30 a.m.
$AVE : $200
ALLIANCE AUTO AUCTION DALLAS
www.allianceautoauction.com
9426 Lakefield Blvd., Dallas, TX 75220 214.646.3136, Fax 469.828.8225
GM: Robert Kersh
Wednesday, 1:30 p.m.
$AVE : $200
AMERICA’S AA DALLAS
www.americasautoauction.com
219 N. Loop 12, Irving, TX 75061 972.445.1044, Fax 972.591.2742
GM: Ruben Figueroa
Tuesday, 1:00 p.m. / Thursday, 1:00 p.m.
$AVE : $200
IAA DALLAS*
www.iaai.com
204 Mars Rd., Wilmer, TX 75172 972.525.6401, Fax 972.525.6403
GM: Bob Bannister
Wednesday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
IAA DFW*
www.iaai.com
4226 East Main St., Grand Prairie, TX 75050 972.522.5000, Fax 972.522.5090
GM: Julissa Reyes
Tuesday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
IAA FORT WORTH NORTH*
www.iaai.com
3748 McPherson Dr., Justin, TX 76247 940.648.5541, Fax 940.648.5543
GM: Jack Panczyk
Tuesday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
MANHEIM DALLAS**
www.manheim.com
5333 W. Kiest Blvd., Dallas, TX 75236 214.330.1800, Fax 214.339.6347
GM: Rich Curtis
Wednesday, 9:30 a.m.
$AVE : $100
MANHEIM DALLAS FORT WORTH**
www.manheim.com
12101 Trinity Blvd., Fort Worth, TX 76040 817.399.4000, Fax 817.399.4251
GM: Glenna Bishop
Thursday, 9:30 a.m.
$AVE : $100
METRO AUTO AUCTION DALLAS
www.metroaa.com
1836 Midway Road, Lewisville, TX 75056 972.492.0900, Fax 972.492.0944
GM: Scott Stalder
Tuesday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : $200
El Paso
AMERICA’S AUTO AUCTION EL PASO
www.epiaa.com
7930 Artcraft Rd., El Paso, TX 79932 915.587.6700, Fax 915.587.6700
GM: Luke Pidgeon
Wednesday, 10:00 a.m.
$AVE : $200
IAA EL PASO*
www.iaai.com
14651 Gateway Blvd. W, El Paso, TX 79927 915.852.2489, Fax 915.852.2235
GM: Jorge Resendez
Friday, 10:30 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
MANHEIM EL PASO
www.manheim.com
485 Coates Drive, El Paso, TX 79932 915.833.9333, Fax 915.581.9645
GM: JD Guerrero
Thursday, 10:00 a.m.
$AVE : $100
IAA MCALLEN*
www.iaai.com
900 N. Hutto Road, Donna, TX 78537
956.464.8393, Fax 956.464.8510
GM: Ydalia Sandoval
Tuesday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
BIG VALLEY AUTO AUCTION**
www.bigvalleyaa.com
4315 N. Hutto Road, Donna, TX 78537
956.461.9000, Fax 956.461.9005
GM: Lisa Franz
Thursday, 9:30 a.m.
$AVE : $200
www.adesa.com
4526 N. Sam Houston, Houston, TX 77086
281.580.1800, Fax 281.580.8030
GM: Brian Wetzel
Wednesday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : $200
AMERICA’S AA HOUSTON
www.americasautoauction.com
1826 Almeda Genoa Rd., Houston, TX 77047
281.819.3600, Fax 281.819.3601
GM: Ben Nash
Thursday, 2:00 p.m.
$AVE : $200
AMERICA’S AA NORTH HOUSTON
www.americasautoauction.com
1440 FM 3083, Conroe, TX 77301
936.441.2882, Fax 936.788.2842
GM: Buddy Cheney
Tuesday, 1:00 p.m.
$AVE : $200
AUTONATION AUTO AUCTION - HOUSTON
www.autonationautoauction.com
608 W. Mitchell Road, Houston, TX 77037
822.905.2622, Fax 281.506.3866
GM: Juan Gallo
Friday, 9:30 a.m.
$AVE : $200
HOUSTON AUTO AUCTION
www.houstonautoauction.com
2000 Cavalcade, Houston, TX 77009
713.644.5566, Fax 713.644.0889
President/GM: Tim Bowers
Wednesday, 11:00 a.m.
$AVE : $200
IAA HOUSTON*
www.iaai.com
2535 West. Mt. Houston, Houston, TX 77038
281.847.4700, Fax 281.847.4799
GM: Alvin Banks
Wednesday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
www.iaai.com
16602 East Hardy Rd., Houston-North, TX 77032
281.443.1300, Fax 281.443.4433
GM: Aracelia Palacios
Thursday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
IAA HOUSTON SOUTH*
www.iaai.com
2839 E. FM 1462, Rosharon, TX 77583
281.369.1010, Fax 833.595.8398
GM: Adriana Serrano
Friday, 9:30 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
MANHEIM HOUSTON
www.manheim.com
14450 West Road, Houston, TX 77041 281.924.5833, Fax 281.890.7953
GM: Brian Walker
Tuesday, 9:00 a.m. / Thursday 6:30 p.m.
$AVE : $100
MANHEIM TEXAS HOBBY
www.manheim.com
8215 Kopman Road, Houston, TX 77061 713.649.8233, Fax 713.640.6330
GM: Darren Slack
Thursday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : $100
ALLIANCE AUTO AUCTION LONGVIEW
www.allianceautoauction.com
6000 East Loop 281, Longview, TX 75602 903.212.2955, Fax 903.212.2556
GM: Chris Barille
Friday, 10:00 a.m.
$AVE : $200
IAA LONGVIEW*
www.iaai.com
5577 Highway 80 East, Longview, TX 75605 903.553.9248, Fax 903.553.0210
GM: Edgar Chavez
Thursday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
IAA LUBBOCK*
www.iaai.com
5311 N. CR 2000, Lubbock, TX 79415 806.747.5458, Fax 806.747.5472
GM: Chris Foster
Tuesday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
TEXAS LONE STAR AUTO AUCTION**
www.lsaalubbock.com
2706 E. Slaton Road., Lubbock, TX 79404 806.745.6606
GM: Dale Martin
Wednesday, 9:30 a.m
$AVE : $75/Quarterly
LUFKIN DEALERS AUTO AUCTION
www.lufkindealers.com
2109 N. John Reddit Dr., Lufkin, TX 75904 936.632.4299, Fax 936.632.4218
GM: Wayne Cook
Thursday, 6:00 p.m.
$AVE : $200
IAA PERMIAN BASIN*
www.iaai.com
701 W. 81st Street, Odessa, TX 79764
432.550.7277, Fax 432.366.8725
Thursday, 11:00 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
San Antonio
ADESA SAN ANTONIO
www.adesa.com
200 S. Callaghan Rd., San Antonio, TX 78227
210.434.4999, Fax 210.431.0645
GM: Clifton Sprenger
Thursday, 10:00 a.m.
$AVE : $200
IAA SAN ANTONIO*
www.iaai.com
11275 S. Zarzamora, San Antonio, TX 78224
210.628.6770, Fax 210.628.6778
GM: Paula Booker
Monday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : up to $200 Sell Fee
MANHEIM SAN ANTONIO**
www.manheim.com
2042 Ackerman Road San Antonio, TX 78219
210.661.4200, Fax 210.662.3113
GM: Mike Browning
Wednesday, 9:00 a.m.
$AVE : $100
SAN ANTONIO AUTO AUCTION**
www.sanantonioautoauction.com
13510 Toepperwein Rd. San Antonio, TX 78233
210.298.5477
GM: Brandon Walston
Tuesday, 10:00 a.m. / Thursday, 1:30 p.m.
$AVE : $200
Tyler
GREATER TYLER AUTO AUCTION
www.greatertyleraa.com
11654 Hwy 64W, Tyler, TX 75704
903.597.2800, Fax 903.597.3848
GM: Wayne Cook
Tuesday, 5:00 p.m.
$AVE : $200
Waco
ALLIANCE AUTO AUCTION WACO
www.allianceautoauction.com
15735 I-35 Frontage Road
Elm Mott, TX 76640
254.829.0123, Fax 254.829.1298
GM: Christina Thomas
Friday, 10:00 a.m.
$AVE : $200
I’m an old farm boy from north central Ohio. My grandfather— “Papaw”—bought a farm of nearly a hundred acres with his life savings when my dad was just a boy, having moved the family up from Kentucky. With just an eighth-grade education, he was the smartest man I’d ever met. He was an amazing storyteller and communicator.
He taught me how to drive when I was just five years old, standing between his knees on our old, green, John Deere tractor. He believed hard work and perseverance will get you everywhere you need to go in life. He
believed that problem-solvers rule the world. That with enough ingenuity, creativity, and—in our case—maybe a little bit of duct tape, you could solve almost any problem.
He also taught me what I call today the Platinum Rule: You should treat other people better than they expect to be treated and it’ll always come back to you.
And whether he was borrowing old man Crouse’s red truck from down the road that seemed to frequently be on empty and returning it full of gas, or giving his coat off his back, literally, to an older man during a farm
sale in the dead of winter, that’s just how Papaw lived his life.
The last thing he taught me was that family matters more than anything else. And long after our work colleagues and friends are gone, your family remains—so you’ve got to treat them accordingly along the journey. Papaw came from a long line of storytellers. He could weave a tale like Shakespeare himself, be it about his latest fishing trip or simply to make a point about why we were moving the cattle from one field to the other. People seemed to love listening to him... most of all, me.
On a cold February day in 1982, I jumped off the school bus to head down his fifty-yard-long driveway like I did nearly every day before. Instead of seeing just his green Chevy Silverado parked at the end, on this day, it was full of cars. Not too long after, an ambulance came scream ing down our snow-covered dirt road and down that same fifty-yard-long driveway.
Unfortunately for me, he had stage 4 lung cancer and that would be the last day I would ever see him again. I was devastated to lose my mentor, my hero. But what he really taught me was how to take those beliefs and apply them in a way that is meaningful to someone else. To make a difference in the world and in the lives of others. And my Papaw, being a great storyteller, great communicator, and influencer, essentially taught me this methodology long before I was able to validate it with actual science. Thanks in large part to him, I’m able to take these concepts and beliefs and turn them into something that you can hopefully use to make yourself even more effective in the way you communicate... be it as a salesperson, a leader, a parent, or the coach of your kid’s little league team. And that’s what NeuroSelling was born out of. In a lot of ways, I owe a great deal of my company and my life today to my Papaw. And that’s really why I do what I do.
With that as the backdrop, what I found anecdotally over the course of my career as well as pouring over the volumes of published research on the topics of neuroscience and human behavior is that much of what prevents us from communicating like Papaw may not be your fault.
I hate to be the first person you may hear this from, but what if I told you your fundamental approach to communicating may be wrong? You were trained to present facts and
data… features and benefits, armed with sales tactics and an entire support team behind you. In short, you’ve done everything you can do to ready yourself to win the customer.
care of those types of instinctive and emotional reactions without us needing to consciously think about them.
More importantly for the purpose of this book, the limbic and root brains initially override our neocortex.
I could be in the middle of an important phone call, but if a car backfires in front of my office, my subconscious immediately overrides my conscious and points my attention to the source of the loud sound. Only after I know that there’s no threat can I turn my attention back to my phone conversation. As famed researcher and neurobiologist Joseph LeDoux states in his commentary on the study of emotion:
When we think of the brain, we usually picture the two lobes of gray matter. That’s a brain, right? Well, it is and it isn’t. You might find it easier to think of the brain as three brains, all working together to keep you and me alive and well.
The two-lobed gray matter you’re thinking of is our neocortex, responsible for our higher reasoning. That’s where our self-awareness and conscious thought happens. It’s what you’re using right now to read this article and judge its validity. It’s literally how we “think”; therefore we refer to this area as our “thinking” brain.
But the other two parts of the brain hold more sway over our actions and behaviors: the limbic system (made up of areas like the amygdala and hippocampus), which we call the “feeling” brain and what I simply call the root brain, our “instinctive brain” (comprising the brainstem, basal ganglia, and other elements). These two “subbrains” essentially run in the background, in our subconscious. You don’t have to think about making your heart beat. I don’t need to think about yanking my hand away from a hot stove. Our limbic and root brains take
Our studies have led us to understand that the amygdala is the key, no matter how the stimulus comes into the brain: through the eyes, the nose, the ears. The amygdala is programmed to react without benefit of input from the thinking part of the brain, the cortex. Eventually the cortex gets involved, but this processing takes longer.
You don’t need to memorize the parts of the brain to understand the big takeaway here:
Human decision-making starts by processing information in the limbic and root brains and is then validated by the neocortex.
While we might believe that our decision-making begins in our neocortex (where we become consciously aware of our thoughts), it’s actually the opposite. Like an iceberg, most of the brain’s activity happens below the surface. Our decision-making process starts with the instinctive and emotional filters of our subconscious, then gets passed up to our rational, conscious mind to affirm, validate, or reject that information. In short, we buy on emotion and justify with logic.
Jeff Bloomfield will be the Keynote Speaker for the Opening General Session at the TIADA Conference on Monday, July 24, 2023. To register for this year’s conference, visit www.tiadaannualconference.com.What if I told you your fundamental approach to communicating may be wrong?
Monday General Session
NeuroCoaching™:
The Science of High Performing Teams
Jeff Bloomfield – Author, Business Coach and Mentor, Braintrust
Monday 9:30 am
Reducing Employee Turnover at Your Dealership
Jason March – General Manager, March Motors (Jacksonville, FL)
Young Guns: Dealers Under 40 Finding Success
Dealer Panel Discussion
Panelists: Tony Caldwell (You Drive Auto, Dallas), Deyla Lazo (Dario Auto Sales, Grand Prairie), Jason Gregory (Abilene Used Car Sales, Abilene). Moderator: Greg Chaney
The Definitive Guide to Maximizing Your Search Engine Visibility
Greg Gifford – Chief Operating Officer, SearchLab Digital
Repossession and Bankruptcy: The Latest and Greatest
Michael W. Dunagan – TIADA
Counsel, Jameson & Dunagan, P.C.
Mastering the Single Point of Contact:
Elevating the Customer Experience
Sean Baker and Max Seltzer – Sales Consultants, JM&A Group Consulting Solutions
Monday 10:30 am
Building a High Performing Sales and Management Team
Marshall Zoerner – Vice President, Freeman Motor Company (Portland, OR)
How to Implement Day-to-Day Social Media and Review Tactics
Dealer Panel Discussion
Panelists: Michael Zak (Dixon Motors, Houston), Tiffany Villarreal (McAllen Auto Sales, McAllen), Harry Buchelly (Discovery Auto Sales, Austin).
Moderator: Cesar Torres
Don’t Be Held Hostage by a Big Customer Problem
Tom Kline – Lead Consultant and Founder, Better Vantage Point
Tax Policy Update from the Comptroller’s Office
Lavonne Key – Tax Analyst, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
5 Ways to Increase Opportunities for Better Collections Relationships
Bill Elizondo – Senior 20 Group Moderator, Trainer, and Consultant, NIADA
Monday 11:30 am
The Right Way(s) to Fund Growth at Your Dealership
Russell Moore – Dealer Principal, Top Notch Used Cars (Conroe, TX)
Winning Approaches and Techniques in Menu Selling
Dealer Panel Discussion
Panelists: Chloe Phea (Austin Rising Fast, Austin), Jay Rose (Dale’s Motor Company, San Antonio), William Mokry (W G Mokry Auto Sales, Cedar Park)
Moderator: Sean Baker
How to Get More Customers in the Digital World / Como Conseguir
Mas Clientes en el Mundo Digital
Nicola Briani – CEO and Web Marketing Specialist, Adview, USA
OCCC Essentials
Huffman Lewis – Director of Consumer Protection, and Eric Fancher – Financial Examiner, Office of Consumer Credit Commission
Reducing Recon Costs Through Improved Shop Efficiency and Process
Ben Goodman – Senior 20 Group Moderator and Consultant, NIADA
Tuesday 9:00 am
Redemptionists, Sovereign Citizens, and Real Persons, Oh My!
T. Bently Durant – COO and General Counsel, Classic Chevrolet (Grapevine, TX)
BHPH Unplugged National Dealer Panel Discussion , Panelists: Shawn Richardson (OK), Nick Markosian (UT), Candice Price (NE). Moderator: Ben Goodman
Did Google Get It Right with GA4? What You Need to Know to Maximize Your Website Traffic
Christopher Wood – Vice President, Client Strategy, LocaliQ Automotive
Cash vs. Credit Pricing and the CFPB
Jean Noonan – Partner, Hudson Cook LLP
CYA: Cover Your Assets! (aka What Kind of Insurance Do I Need?)
Tom Kline – Lead Consultant and Founder, Better Vantage Point
Tuesday 10:00 am
How to Identify and Eliminate Waste at Your Dealership
Kendra Brown –Dealer Principal, Brown Family Auto Sales LLC
Real Talk with Three National Rock Stars of Special Finance & Retail Dealer Panel Discussion
Panelists: Otto Hahne (MI), Dan Johnson (NY), Joe Mok (IL). Moderator: Bill Elizondo
Transform Your Social Media Strategy: The ChatGPT Workshop
Andrew Street – CEO, Dealer OMG
FTC’s Proposed Motor Vehicle Dealers Trade Regulation Rule
Matthew Wernz –Regional Director of the Southwest Region, Federal Trade Commission
The Pros, Cons, IRS “Gotchas”, and Basic Mistakes of a Related Finance Company (RFC)
Bob Parnas – Principal, CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen LLP) and Michael W. Dunagan – TIADA Counsel
Tuesday 11:00 am
Partnering for Success: Keys to Thriving in a Business Partnership
Robert Beck and Nelsen Simonsen – Dealer Principals, Stop N’ Drive Motors
How to Sell More Cars with Online Video
Ronald Heider – President, HMA - Heider Marketing & Advertising
Yes, You Can Do That, If You Did It This Way
Corrie Thompson – Director of Enforcement Division, Texas Department of Motor Vehicles Payments & Arrangements: Creating Effective Collections Calls
Maggie Pugesek – Partner & Lead Trainer, C&M Coaching
Tuesday General Session
Economic and Automotive Industry Update with a Focus on the Texas Market
Jonathan Smoke – Chief Economist, Cox Automotive
& EXPO
2023 TIADA Conference & Expo
July 23-25, 2023
JW Marriott Hill Country Resort - San Antonio, TX
Customize your conference experience by selecting from the options below. To register, please scan the QR code below or go to www.TiadaAnnualConference.com. Questions? Call us at 512.244.6060.
(includes Welcome Reception, Monday & Tuesday Education/Sessions, Expo Hall, Lunch on Monday & Tuesday and Awards Reception & Dinner)
1st Registrant
2nd Registrant*
3rd + additional Registrant*
Recruit 5 new members by June 30th
Monday 7 /24 or Tuesday 7 /25
(includes Monday or Tuesday Education, Expo Hall and lunch on your selected day)
Non-Member (Dealers Only)
TADA and out-of-state IADA members are eligible for TIADA member rate
EARLY BIRD RATE through June 23rd
Register by June 23rd Save $100 per attendee
$� $495
$� $395 $m $295 FREE $300 $400 non-members
$� $795
*Registrants must be from same dealership to receive discounted rate
Discounted guestrooms at the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort are available for $229/night with a $5 daily resort fee (normally $56) for TIADA Conference attendees.
Must be reserved on or before June 23rd to receive discounted rate. Any room reservation that is cancelled after June 23rd will be subject to a late cancellation fee of one night's room and tax. No-shows will also be charged one night's room and tax.
JW Marriott Hill Country Resort/ 23808 Resort Pkwy/ San Antonio, TX 78261 Call 877.622.3140 or book online TiadaAnnualConference.com/Accommodations
Featured Speaker
Kendra Brown Dealer Principal Brown Family Auto Sales LLC
Sales and marketing come naturally to operators in the automotive industry. Independent dealers increasingly use data to inform financial, accounting, underwriting, and marketing decisions. As data plays a more significant role in even the smallest operations, the next frontier for sustainable success relies on creating and documenting processes. The quantitive and compliance aspects of the business lend themselves more to creating consistent processes. In marketing and sales, the crux of where numbers meet human interaction, we often see process improvement needs to catch up to other areas in the business.
What makes a good salesperson? What makes a good marketing
plan? Does a car salesperson need to be charismatic, an extravert, and gifted with a flair for small talk? Sometimes, managers and operators think they have to allow deviation from processes among sales teams to give the ideal sales personality the space it needs to work its magic. Implementing CRM software to gather more information about customer behavior and lead-handling metrics can be a prolonged and painful process where managers view sales and marketing as innate talents rather than a skill achievable by any personality type. Most commonly, dealership branding gets relegated to individual salespeople to self-promote on social media, in local markets, etc. Nothing can risk your dealership’s marketing
Is your dealership too small to separate sales and marketing? Absolutely not.
potential like a commission-driven salesperson, illequipped for properly selling on social platforms.
In Daniel Pink’s book, “To Sell is Human,” he investigates the heart of selling and how it is innate to all humans, regardless of personality type. He cites several researchers and their studies of sales performance where the correlation between extraversion and sales is “essentially nonexistent.” What does this mean for the independent dealer? Prioritize your sales and marketing process for efficiency and a better work culture without fear of failure.
Sales and marketing are siblings, not twins. When a manager demands its salespeople to self-generate leads, the unintended consequence is that valuable customer information will escape the dealership. It won’t get entered into a CRM, which leaves the dealership without a customer base for follow-up. Side conversations on personal messages can lead to side deals that hurt the dealership. Bad individual relationships can tarnish the dealership’s reputation. And more. The potential for things to go wrong outweighs the potential for things to go right when the dealership leaves marketing in the hands of the salespeople. These problems are very familiar to independent operators. But what are you doing to improve it?
It’s time to tackle the last frontier in operational improvement for the independent dealer: separating sales and marketing. Marketing aligns more with your business model than with the sales team. Here is a quick guide to knowing if you are dealing with marketing or sales.
1
Is the role transactional? If the person is closing the deal, you are dealing with sales. Find someone who is a team player with a positive attitude and is willing to use a CRM to track details. Details are more important than personality. You can teach someone how to ask for the sale and close the deal. You can’t teach someone how to be willing to learn and embrace the process. You can create an environment that incentivizes and encourages it (and you should), but attitude is not a learned skill.
business? You are looking for a marketer. The marketer communicates the benefits of your product or service by crafting communication for various channels to trigger the emotions that make that customer convert to a lead. The marketer tells a story.
4 Does their role require the interpretation of data analytics? Leave data analysis and market research to the marketer. The marketer should have a close understanding of your business model and your brand. Their role requires interpreting data to ensure it aligns with the business objectives.
Is your dealership too small to separate sales and marketing? Absolutely not. There has never been an easier time to outsource specific skills efficiently. Vertical integration, where you keep all skillsets in-house, can be part of your growth plan. However, if you want to optimize for efficiency, start with these priorities:
1 Create and guard your dealership’s brand value and reputation. You don’t have to be on every platform at the same time. The more you advertise without overseeing performance metrics, the more likely you are to waste money. Focus on your owned media, like your website, social platforms, search engine listings, and email marketing to your customer database. Put someone in charge who is not motivated by commission or wearing other hats.
2Control and own your data. Data is quickly becoming currency, so treat it as such. There is an affordable solution for every size operation to consolidate customer data. Track your website analytics using your Google Analytics account and control its access wisely.
2
Does their role require communicating directly with new, unconverted leads? If yes, then the position is under sales. You don’t need a marketer if you are looking for someone to stand at a table at an event to represent your dealership. You need sales. They may not transact, but each person approaching your table is a lead. Your dealership’s representative should be able to communicate the value proposition to the potential customer, enter their information into the dealer’s database, and proceed with a follow-up process.
3 Are you looking for a way to reach or bring more customers to your online or real-life
3Hire a teachable sales team that will abide by your processes. Dr. Atul Gawande runs a unique physician practice in New Jersey, where finding talent is challenging. I’m not likening the automotive industry to healthcare. However, each retailer must set itself apart in a sea of competition. Your dealership is unique, just as Dr. Gawande’s practice is unique. When asked how he fills the necessary positions in his practice, he says, “We recruit for attitude and train for skill.”
The separation of sales and marketing forces you to define roles and processes in these areas. When you get a handle on your customer data, you will improve your sales and marketing performance resulting in efficient spending and better decision-making regarding advertising.
Kendra will be a featured dealer speaker at the TIADA Conference on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. To register for this year’s conference, visit www.tiadaannualconference.com.
How many phone calls do your collectors take and make in a day? When you consider the mass volume of calls these teams handle, it’s important to think about the quality of each call. It can be easy to get overwhelmed and skip steps in the call process, especially when the phones are extra busy, such as on Fridays when everyone gets paid. It also makes it hard when the customer is rude, agitated, or angry. Give your collectors the proper tools to handle collections calls so that they always feel prepared.
There are several key factors that go into an effective collections call and a successful collections department. The first is process. You should have a process or word track that you consistently follow for collections calls. Even when it’s busy, use your process to stay on track. Always start with a full and complete
greeting, including the collector’s name. This gets left off a lot and it’s important to create rapport early on in the call, excluding your name creates a defensive caller. Next, be sure you verify the account. This can be done in a variety of ways, using the last 4 of their social or date of birth and the vehicle. I also like to use the phone number to verify the account, this helps us keep the account up to date as a customer is more likely to keep a current phone number on file if it’s part of accessing their account. Once a month, I suggest verifying the customer’s employer and home address. Once the basics are verified, state how much they owe. Be clear about any additional fees or charges on the account, including any credit card processing fees. If you keep the customer’s card number on file, have them verify the last 4 numbers of their card.
Be careful not to read this information out to them, but rather they should provide it to you. You wouldn’t call Verizon to pay your cell phone bill and not have your card handy, the same needs to apply to us as the lender attempting to collect a debt. If you offer autopay or CPI, I suggest mentioning it while the payment is processing and use up the dead space. Over time, the consistent mentioning of auto pay can help encourage the customer to sign up, especially if they will save a processing fee. Those fees add up over the course of the loan and they could save big depending on what the charges are. Keep in mind at the end of the call, you want to thank them for their payment, state when the next payment is due, and wish them a good day. Good customer service is really important, and you want to build a strong relationship with friendly pleasantries. Additionally, stating the next payment due date helps set the customer up for success. We tend to retain the last bit of info we hear or read, so mentioning the next payment due date at the end of the call just makes sense. Be sure you have a good voice tone and vocal inflection throughout the call. If a customer is calling up to make a payment arrangement and they are going through a tough time, use a somber tone. If it’s a simple payment, be friendly and smile. Voice inflection plays a major role
in how the customer feels about the person they are speaking with, so always be mindful of your tone.
The second factor is having clear guidelines for your team to follow when it comes to a partial pay or a promise to pay. Any extra time the team must spend getting arrangements approved can decrease your chances of collecting the funds, not to mention the fact it frustrates the customer. You also want everyone to follow the same rules. It’s never a good look when one rep allows a certain arrangement and another rep does not. In one phone call I heard recently, the rep said, “I don’t agree with this arrangement, therefore we’re going to have to cancel this one and create a new one, this payment amount is unacceptable.” Not only does it look bad to throw a co-worker under the bus, but it shows the customer that the department has a weakness to it and that it’s disorganized with no consistent guidelines. I have had customers call over and over until they get a certain collector who is more lenient on arrangements. All of this can be avoided if you have a set process for arrangements, promise to pay, and partial payments.
Third, we always want to build a good relationship with the customer right from the start. You never want your customers to feel afraid to reach out to you when times get tough or if they experience a loss in
income. If they start dodging you, naturally, it’s much harder to collect. But if the customer feels confident they won’t be shamed regarding their situation, and they know they can trust their collector to work with them in a reasonable way, they are likely to answer the phone when you call or, even better, pick up the phone and call you. There is a lot to be said about having a good relationship between the collector and the customer.
That brings us to our last point and that is staffing. You need staff that are firm yet reasonable and understanding. Someone who is outgoing and not afraid to ask tough questions or have a difficult conversation is key. There is a lot of nonsense that collectors must deal with, such as attempting to determine if the customer is being truthful over the phone. It can be challenging to not take everything personally, so having an outgoing personality will help the collector process their emotions and keep the phone call on track. Additionally, you do want team members who are willing to try new processes and work with other collectors to use techniques to handle objections. When someone is closedminded and refuses to try new techniques, they can be difficult to deal with and your customers will constantly ask to speak to someone else, which only slows everything down.
All of these reasons are why I fully support and encourage recording your phone calls. It’s not enough to just record them however, make sure you listen to them too! You want to hear how the relationship building is going, how the process is being followed, and what kind of objections the team is facing so you can write techniques to overcome the most common ones. Playing the calls for yourself and your team will help everyone grow and learn.
Collections is hard, it takes a strong person to be a collector and they have a rough job. It’s important to support them with continuous training and by providing processes and word tracks to help them stay in control of the phone call. Implementing some of these suggestions should help support your team and get your collection calls and department on track!
To learn more, make sure you join my session at TIADA on Tuesday, July 25th at 11:00 am as we listen to real collections calls and discuss call flow to create effective collections calls. See you at the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort in the beautiful San Antonio, Texas!
Featured Speaker
Ronald A. Heider President, HMA Heider Marketing & Advertising
14 hours that’s the average amount of time a used car buyer will spend online before they visit a dealership.
What do these stats mean to you? As good as your website & social media strategy might be, chances are quite high that potential customers are going to forget about you in their search for used car information.
Suppose your dealership isn’t using a retargeting strategy. In that case, it should be, and here’s why: Retargeting is one of the easiest & cheapest ways for you and your dealership to stay top of mind and in front of consumers who have already shown an interest in you by visiting your website or your social media page(s).
17 sites that’s the current estimate for how many different websites or automotive review/rating sites a used car buyer will visit before they visit a dealership.
Retargeting is simply delivering ads to people who have already visited your website or social media page(s). Some purchases are easily made with 1 or 2 visits to a website. But we’re in the automotive space. And most of our customers want to take several looks at what we sell. It’s really competitive out there. And it’s easy for consumers to forget all about you.
To launch a campaign, there are only a few things you need to do. First — you’ll need to make sure you have installed the tracking pixels on your website. For Facebook, they make this available inside your
ads manager. And once set up, you can target people on both Facebook & Instagram who have engaged with you. For website retargeting, you’ll need to install different tracking pixels as well. And all of the 3rd party providers will give you the code that you will need to get your webmaster to install on your website. Once you see that it’s working, the next thing you’ll need is a series of banner ads. Your graphic designer will be able to provide you with all of the ads you’ll need. That’s it…
Retargeting is a powerful automotive marketing strategy when campaigns are run correctly. But it’s easy to get it wrong. Here are a few tips to help you get it right:
1 Use a frequency cap. Simply put — this will limit how many times someone sees your ads. Overexposure quickly results in decreased campaign performance. If you deliver your ads too often, prospects may start ignoring your ads completely. Worse yet, they may begin to have a negative association with your dealership as you follow them all over the web. A frequency cap will limit the number of times someone will see your ads and will prevent them from feeling stalked.
to blend into the background. By rotating your ad creative every few months, you can easily avoid experiencing these dips in performance.
4Color and images are good — lots of copy is bad. The ads you use may do more to determine success than any other factor of your retargeting campaign. So be sure to devote enough resources to making beautiful ads. Automotive marketers love to cram as much information as possible into the space allotted. I worked with a dealer who told me he wanted 10 gallons of info
stuffed inside a 5-gallon bucket. This method of designing ads will distract your audience and will fail at winning their attention.
So get creative with your ads and messaging, deploy a retargeting campaign, and start converting those tire kickers into active buyers.
Ronald be a featured speaker at the TIADA Conference on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, sharing how to use video to sell more cars. Visit www. hmaads.com or email Heider directly at rheider@hmaads.com . To register for this year’s conference, visit www.tiadaannualconference.com.
The TIADA Website: www.txiada.org
Members can log in with their username/password and access our Dealer Member Directory, Legislative Action Center, Compliance Consultation Service and much more. Register for all upcoming TIADA events online through the Calendar of Events, access our online membership application, find contact information for all our Local Chapters, and access many additional resources through our Knowledge Base.
Office of Consumer Credit Commissioner
800.538.1579
occc.texas.gov
Texas Comptroller
800.252.1382
comptroller.texas.gov
NIADA
800.682.3837
www.niada.com
REPOSSESSIONS
American Recovery Association
972.755.4755
Exclude converted users. Have you ever made a purchase online only to find you’re still being inundated with ads for that company or product? By continuing to serve ads to converted customers, you’ll quickly begin to annoy people. Don’t make that mistake. Most of the platforms will allow you to exclude converted users.
2
License Renewal Certificate
TexasDealerEducation.com
Texas Department of Motor Vehicles
888.368.4689
www.txdmv.gov
www.repo.org or contact
TIADA state office
FORMS
Burrell Printing
512.990.1188
www.burrellprinting.com
Keep your ads & copy fresh. After seeing the same ads again and again, a user’s interest is no longer piqued, and the ads are more likely
3
Compiled by Texas Dealer staff
Elections for the TIADA Board of Directors will be held at the House of Delegates meeting during the 2023 TIADA Conference & Expo in San Antonio, Texas.
Vice President, West Texas (Region 1)
President Eddie Hale
Neighborhood Autos
PO Box 1719
Decatur TX 76234
President Elect
Vicki Davis
A-OK Auto Sales
PO Box 256
23980 FM 1314
Porter, TX 77365
Chairman of the Board
Ryan Winkelmann
BJ’s Autohaus
5005 Telephone Road
Houston, TX 77087
Cesar Stark
S&S Motors
7699 Alameda Ave.
El Paso, TX 77915
Vice President, Fort Worth (Region 2)
Tyler Simmons
Abilene Used Car Sale, Inc.
2150 N. 1st Street
Abilene, TX 79603
Vice President, Dallas (Region 3)
Greg Reine
Auto Liquidators
39670 LBJ Freeway Dallas TX 75237
Vice President, Houston (Region 4)
Lowell Rogers
11th Street Motors
1355 N 11th St.
Beaumont, TX 77702
Vice President, Central Texas (Region 5)
Chad Lancaster
Chacon Autos
11800 E. Northwest Hwy
Dallas TX 75218
Secretary Greg Phea
Austin Rising Fast
8024 IH 35 North Austin TX 78753
Treasurer Brad Kalivoda
Fiesta Motors – Lubbock
2599 74th Street
Lubbock, TX 79423
Vice President, South Texas (Region 6)
Cesar Torres
Lofi Motors
4634 Ayers St.
Corpus Christi, TX 78415
Vice President At Large
Armando Villarreal
McAllen Auto Sales, LLC
4215 S. 23rd St
McAllen, TX 78503
Vice President At Large
Russell Moore
Top Notch Used Cars
900 East Davis Conroe, TX 77301
Last month, I attended my first TIADA seminar as Executive Director of the association. This educational event was led by Michael Dunagan in Arlington, and it became apparent to me throughout the day why Mike is such an industry legend. His class was concise and comprehensive. Not only did he provide a thorough education for BHPH dealers in attendance, but he also gave specific stories and examples to back up the important legal and compliance issues he addressed during the day. The seminar was packed with information, and the dealers were engaged and eager to learn. About a week later, I returned to Lubbock for a dealer town hall and luncheon. It was a great opportunity to meet with dealers in an informal setting to hear about the issues that are affecting their dealerships in today’s environment. This has been a particularly challenging year for all independent dealers in Texas, and I look forward to working closely with our members to address their concerns and support them. The Lubbock town hall presented an exciting opportunity for me to learn,
by John Frullo TIADA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
and I look forward to the future events we are planning around the state.
I also want to say a quick word about the upcoming conference and expo. I have attended TIADA’s conference in previous years when I was a State Representative, and TIADA always puts on a tremendous event. This year, I am excited to see the educational sessions, the exhibit hall, and the many other events in store at the beautiful JW Marriott in San Antonio.
I want to encourage you all to participate in the INDEPAC auctions while you are at the conference. These offer the best opportunity for you to contribute to the only political action committee specifically dedicated to supporting your business at the legislative level. If you kept up with the session, you know the good things we helped make happen and the bad that we kept from hurting our industry, and INDEPAC is critical to that success.
I look forward to meeting you all in person next month!
The INDEPAC auctions at the conference will offer the best opportunity for you to contribute to the only political action committee specifically dedicated to supporting your business at the legislative level, and I encourage you all to do so.
As the nation’s leading provider of end-to-end wholesale vehicle solutions, Manheim is here to help you be more successful with the in-lane and online tools you need.