For almost 2 years I have followed the threads of conversation on this forum and other sites that offer a similar type of service. I have learned more about what the automotive community was thinking from this type of platform than just about anything else that I have experienced. Attending Arrow 5 this fall was a tremendous experience and if you are a serious player or some day hope to be I would strongly recommend that you attend the next event and PAY ATTENTION.
Over the last 3 years have attended the last 3 NADAs and the last 4 TADAs (Texas Auto Dealer Association Convention). Also during the last three years I have been invited to sit on Technology Councils with some of the larger players in the industry. Occasionally, I have the pleasure of addressing groups that share my interest in venues from small Twenty Groups to The NADA.
Last year I had the good fortune of being hired and fired by the largest Automotive Intent Training Company in the world, after just one week I did not fit in. After recovering from the shock I found a small Dealer Group in the Texas Panhandle that took me seriously and offered me a shot as their E-Commerce Director. Im not sure that it is too often that people get to do the kind of work that they honestly love doing and for that I truly am grateful.
In an effort to improve my game I spent the last few weeks pouring over hundreds of articles that I have collected over the last five and a half years I began to notice that there seems top be a glaring omission from virtually everything I read. That is the topic of Money or retained revenue. I find that sort of odd.
I would like to start hearing from a few of the people that post to this news group and see if any of you might have a shared interest in what the real Internet Performance is. What I am curious about is what you are spending on this project as opposed to how much you are putting in the bank.
I know that the First Liar never stands a chance so this PM I am going to email my performance to Dealers Edge for safe keeping to be posted on this service if there seems to be any interest on this string.
I will let you in on the method that we use to calculate my cost numbers:
We do not count the cost of a PCs or a High-Speed connection or the digital camera that all the stores have since these are tools that you need to have for the fundamental operation of your E-Biz.
We do count all monthly subscription charges like Hosting, Aggregators, and Advertising cost associated with the on-line departments and web page development upgrades.
My fee that each of the 7 stores pays that covers my base salary, travel expanses, my housing and fuel.
Any services that have recurring monthly charges like e-mail pagers and tools like Chrome Data, KBB Price Link, and Web Control.
We do count salaries for the ISMs and support personnel.
How we calculate our Net Profit is by subtracting all of our cost from our total revenue and this is what we use to calculate Gross Profit:
Front Payable
PAC
Hold Back
Dealer Incentive
F&I Reserve
A&H + CL
Service Contract Revenue
The only revenue that we do not count is Stair Step Programs or Retro-Money and we do not Count Floor Plan credits Primary or Supplementary.
I will tell you this our average gross profit for the last 3 months has been $3395.23 per copy front and back which out performs the rest of the groups retial sales by almost $295.00 per copy. Our group make up is nearly all Domestic and almost entirely Chrysler. Although, we do have to 3 small import lines at our multi-point store and a Chevrolet Point that adds to the mix.
The bulk of our stores are in small markets we do have a 1 major market store 30 miles outside of Austin.
Please let me know if any of you are interested in following this string or if you have any similar questions.
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Greg Machado
E-Commerce Director &
Independant Consultant
http://www.gMACgroup.com
machado@gmacgroup.com
210.710.8456
[This message has been edited by machado (edited 12-13-2000).]