Digital Dealer - September 2019 - 29

we would pay up to $250 more than
CarMax. That was an easy win. We
trust the CarMax process but also felt
they underbid many cars, so we felt we
could do better. We also convert about
10 percent of the VBC buys to tradeins. For our company, it ties back to
the question of what's your plan to stay
relevant?
The other thing, what we knew, and
this runs through my entire experience
is how best to utilize vendors. Thirdparty vendors are certainly good for
us, but there is a line in the sand where
I, as the owner of a car dealership,
get to own my consumer's experience
versus just giving it away. So, some
third-parties started picking up on this
VBC process and began charging us
exorbitant amounts of money to sell
us their leads for consumers to sell us
their cars.
Therefore, we decided to create our
own brand around that process. Today,
we market to our consumers through
digital, social, and traditional media
to buy cars. Currently, our VBC buys
between 50 and 80 cars a month. We're
way on our way to the 100-mark, after
only a year-and-a-half into it. That's
with a team of ﬁve and a manager.
DEALER MAGAZINE: How has your
referral program helped you sell cars?
DANNY: Our referral program is
important because it gives consumers
the ability to refer other people. Here's
what we know: what's better than
money is saving face and having a good
experience. You wouldn't recommend a
neighbor if he or she came back to you
and complained about their experience.
It wouldn't matter if you got paid or
not, you'd look bad.
We want to make sure we give the
best possible consumer experience.
There's intention, and then there's
action, and we want to provide action.
And that works whether we're buying
or selling. You can learn all about our
referral program (RefertoCountryHill.
com).
DEALER MAGAZINE: You have a

(Pictured in front) Danny Zaslavsky, general manager and partner at Country Hill Motors
stands alongside his dealership team, as well as friends from the automotive training company,
Dealer Synergy.

personal story about the early days of
VinSolutions. Could you share that
story with us?
DANNY: Sure thing. The founder
of VinSolutions is Matt Watson. My
dad in the early 90s, went to Sears to
buy our ﬁrst computer. There was a
guy there by the name of Matt Watson
who sold us our ﬁrst computer. My
dad asked him to help us hook up the
computer at our oﬃce.
Matt came to our dealership and set
up the computer. Josh was there and
said he always dreamed of having a
system that would let us do some of our
sales paperwork on a computer. Matt
built us our ﬁrst point of sales system.
That evolved into Matt getting
the idea for Vinstickers, which grew
to become what we know today as
VinSolutions. We like to think one of
the motivators or inspirations for Matt

was working with our car dealership.
He continues to be a great friend and
strong entrepreneur in Kansas City.
DEALER MAGAZINE: Any ﬁnal
comments in closing?
DANNY: I'd like to repeat what I said
about our core philosophy. Invest in
your team - they give their lives to your
mission. Serve your customers with
integrity and make sure to give back to
your community. Do these things and
it will make coming to work every day
better for everyone.
Also, you can innovate right where
you are. Some people think you need
a lot of support or momentum to
come up with the next big idea. You
can improve your situation or your
company's situation today by asking for
ideas from your own team - or being
innovative yourself! ■

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

SEPTEMBER 2019

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Digital Dealer - September 2019

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