Automotive News Canada - December 2023 - S26

26
BEST PRACTICES 2023
The 16-dealership AutoIQ group was honoured as the 2023
Laureate in business innovation by the Canadian Automobile
Dealers Association. Group President Andrew Ojamae credited a
combination of collaboration among leadership and " semi-democratic "
decision-making. Oak-Land Ford is located in Oakville, 40 kilometres
west of Toronto. SUPPLIED PHOTO
ROI
CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
Journey song " Any Way You Want It. "
To give buyers comfort in purchasing
a vehicle they had never driven, the
company broke industry tradition and
offered a seven-day money-back guarantee,
Ojamae said.
" We took a flier on that, " he said,
noting fears that the program might
become costly. " Now, I don't see us ever
dropping it. "
Although Ojamae did not have precise
numbers, well below one per cent
of vehicles sold are returned, he said,
and many of those are exchanged for
another vehicle.
FACED PUSHBACK
Another initiative, however, ran
into serious initial doubt from the
group's dealerships. Ojamae said that
when he floated the idea of " shared
inventories " - essentially mandatory
dealership vehicle trades - he
encountered a lot of pushback. Despite
some serious hesitation, " We just
turned it on, " Ojamae said, and quickly
increased sales.
The secret to dealer acceptance
of the trades was a bifurcated profit
model, he said. The profit on the car
sale stays with the source dealership,
and the receiving dealership gets to
keep F&I and other revenue streams.
AutoIQ said that through the end of
2022, more than 28 per cent of its sales
of used vehicles have been derived
from intracompany vehicle transfers.
Ojamae " harnessed technology and
data to differentiate their organizations
from the competition, " said Kirk
Kristofferson, a professor at the Ivey
Business School at Western University
in London, Ont., and a judge for the
CADA Laureate competition.
AutoIQ, he wrote in an email to
Automotive News Canada, had unified
the group's dealerships and more than
1,200 employees with a set of core organizational
values, identified employee
potential and developed five employee
professional development programs.
Other initiatives that CADA recognized
include CarLoanIQ, which helps
clients with low credit ratings secure
financing; 360-degree online videos of
vehicles; one centralized auto service
call centre; three tiers of used vehicles,
ranging from fully reconditioned to " as
traded; " and centralized vehicle delivery
services.
CHANGE NOT AN EASY SELL
Ojamae credits constant collaboration
among the dealership leaders for
generating and executing so many initiatives.
" We
don't always have everybody
on board, " he said. " We have definitely
done some things our senior leaders
haven't been comfortable with. "
Ojamae is a graduate of the
Automotive Business School of Canada
at Georgian College in Barrie and he
looks to the school to recruit. When
promising grads are identified, AutoIQ
aggressively courts them with promises
of ongoing professional development
and opportunities to grow their
careers.
" Talent and career development is
everything in our business, " Ojamae
said, a philosophy that drew praise
from the CADA competition judge.
" Andrew's focus on employee
growth and development is truly admirable, "
Kristofferson wrote.
Ojamae said his goal is to " cut out
mediocrity everywhere we can. " Doing
so will foster organic growth over time,
he said.
" We don't want to be the biggest; we
want to be the best. " - ANC
With a little effort,
dealers can turn data
into decisions to
complete timeconsuming
tasks
in a matter of seconds
By KELLY TAYLOR
WINNIPEG CORRESPONDENT
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
is playing an increasing role in
Canadian automotive retailing, helping
sales staff create
compelling advertisements,
automating
choices on which
cars to advertise and
expediting extended-service-contract
claims,
among other
tasks.
Nikhil Chugh,
country manager for
advertising-technology
provider Cartelux
Canada, said that
while the first use
might have involved
a platform such as
ChatGPT helping
write vehicle listings,
AI's influence continues
to grow.
AI is helping
brands sell cars
Chugh:
Using AI can
dramatically
cut the time
it takes for
dealers to get
their vehicles
online to be
sold.
SUPPLIED
PHOTO
more quickly after entering inventory,
Chugh said, citing statistics that
show it can take 15 days or more to
sell a vehicle. It takes that long for
dealers and automakers to work with
their media agencies on the platforms
to use and the audiences to
market to, he said.
" With the platform we run, all of
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