When it comes to motivating people there's a saying - you can use the carrot or the stick.  So much of managing sales people comes down to this - do you put your foot down and enforce compliance or do you offer some other form of incentive?

With incentivizing behavior there are several different ways of doing so.  Offering features that help salespeople manage their time, connect deals and generally sell more cars is one such way, and historically a big focus for AutoPlay. 

Another way to incentivise is with cold, hard cash.  At AutoPlay we don't have this kind of remit, but we have regularly been involved in providing data to from the Sales Pipeline for dealers, groups and OEM's that enables them to set KPI's to manage salespeople and dealers.

In 2021 AutoPlay will be launching AutoPlay Rewards - a brand new way to incentivise behavior and action through AutoPlayAuto.com.

AutoPlay Rewards allows OEM's, groups and dealers to offer salespeople the chance to earn points based on completing certain actions within AutoPlay - from keeping Awaiting Action leads under a threshold, to keeping response times under 60 minutes.  View the slides below to find out more about AutoPlay Rewards.

After a turbulent year, we have found activity stabilising over the last few months.  Whilst activity in October was slightly down from September, we are still not seeing the “dead cat bounce” that many expected after the last round of wage subsidies ended.  In October Leads were down 2.2% from September levels and still well short of the peaks we saw in June after the first nationwide lockdown. 

Conversely Test Drives are slightly up from September with a small 2.4% increase – likely due to the bump in leads we saw in September coming to fruition.  Overall Sales recorded by AutoPlay customers are down 4.7% from September to October and reinforce the idea that whilst we are still seeing high levels of activity it is slightly less easier than it was earlier in the year to convert your leads to sales.

Leads - Down 2.2%
Test Drives - Up 2.4%
Sales - Down 4.7%
October figures as at midnight 31/10/20

Leads from Web – Classified sources were in line with the overall decrease across all sources at 1.3% decrease from September.  Interestingly though leads from dealer websites and from the brand suffered greater than average decreases in excess of 15% - suggesting that other less popular sources of leads either suffered smaller drops, or actually increased from September to October. 

Web - Classified - Down 1.4% (vs 0.8% decrease in September)
Web - Dealer - Down 17.3% (vs 15.1% increase in September)
Brand - Down 18.7% (vs 12.4% increase in September)
October figures as at midnight 31/10/20

Although Test Drives slightly increased from September to October the top 3 sources of Test Drives all decreased last month.  The primary reason for this is that we saw some significant jumps in Test Drives from these sources in August and September – meaning these decreases can be viewed as more of a normalisation of these KPI’s rather than a statistically significant decrease.

Web - Classified – Down 4.3% (vs 10.6% increase in September)
Web - Dealer – Down 2.7% (vs 4.4% increase in September)
Direct – Down 7.3% (vs 29.0% increase in September)
October figures as at midnight 31/10/20

Of the 3 main KPI’s AutoPlay track by source we have seen Sales have been the most strongly affected by the COVID rollercoaster.  In October we saw Sales decrease by 4.7% and this overall decrease was mirrored across the top 3 sources of sales.  Sales attributed to Web – Classified sources decreased by 7.7%, sales from Web – Dealer sources decreased by 6.6% and sales from Repeat customers decreased by 7.8%.

Web - Classified - Down 7.7% (vs 1.8% decrease in September)
Web - Dealer - Down 6.6% (vs 1.6% increase in September)
Repeat - Down 7.8% (vs 8.1% decrease in September)
October figures as at midnight 31/10/20

Overall, from the data we see at AutoPlay the market is still surprisingly robust.  As Xmas approaches it will be interesting to see if this continues or whether we finally start to see activity taper off.  Make sure to check back next month to see the top 3 sources of Leads, Test Drives and Sales for kiwi dealers.

AutoPlayAuto.com is incredibly feature rich - so much so that there's likely many features that you've never heard of.  For the uninitiated here's the A to Z's of AutoPlay....

A – Automation
The newest baby in AutoPlay’s suite of products, automation can help streamline internal reminders and external communication.  Automation helps dealers deliver consistent communication where a mere mortals memory might fail them  .
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B – Brochureware
AutoPlayAuto.com is purpose built for the automotive space - which is why the Sales Pipeline is built around adding vehicles to your leads.  "Brochureware" allows brands to load generic examples of their new vehicles for dealers to load leads against - giving more accurate and granular tracking on pre-sale lead activity.

C – Calendar Events
When we were first designing AutoPlay Sales Pipeline we saw many salespeople struggling with their DMS presenting them with an overwhelming amount of leads and follow up actions.  AutoPlayAuto.com uses a built in calendar to schedule follow-up and only presents these leads back to users when something needs to be done - avoiding cluttering your dashboard with activity that doesn't currently require action.

D – DMS Integration
At AutoPlay we've always taken the position that AutoPlayAuto.com is the best place to capture and manage your pre-sale leads - but when a sale is complete this information needs to be transferred into the CRM or DMS system.  In NZ AutoPlay integrate with most of the main DMS providers (AutoLine, AutoIT, ComsolF2, Magix) and have completed a number of custom integrations at the dealer and brand level.  

E – Email Response Tool
AutoPlay has a built in video email response tool for branded HTML emails.  Ensure all your comms are on brand and utilise the ability to record personalised video responses to build rapport with your customers.  When sending video email responses we've seen dealers increase their rate of reply to outgoing emails from 1 in 5 to 3 out of 5.

F – Fully Responsive
AutoPlayAuto.com is a fully responsive HTML web app - meaning it will respond to any screen size and can be used on any device (works best on Chrome on Windows and Android, and Safari on iOS).  Unchaining sales people from their desks has always been a driving goal for AutoPlay and having access to run Test Drives, Appraisals and manage leads from your smartphone lets sales people always be on top of their leads.

G – Great Results
Dealers and OEM's that use AutoPlayAuto.com report great results.  From improving response times to tapping into their "lost" leads - AutoPlayAuto.com has all the tools salespeople need to achieve their performance and efficiency goals.

H – How To Guides
AutoPlay has an extensive range of How To Guides and video tutorials available at support.autoplayauto.com/portal/en/kb.  These guides cover all the functionality available in AutoPlayAuto.com, but if you prefer a more structured approach make sure you have completed the AutoPlay Academy - our online learning course designed to help you master AutoPlay.  If you require more training you can contact support@autoplay.co.nz to book with one of our expert trainers.

I – In Market Leads
In Market Leads allows dealers to set criteria for similar vehicles, and will alert them when new vehicles are loaded, prices are dropped, or appraisals are completed that may be of interest to existing leads.  In Market Leads is designed to help connect potential deals together and give salespeople a reason to pick up the phone and call their customers.

J – Just Keep It Simple
Lead management doesn't need to be complicated.  Although there are a huge number of features in AutoPlayAuto.com, good lead management boils down to (1)  Load ALL your leads (not just the ones you think you will close), (2) Tell AutoPlay what you have done by updating the Progress, (3) Tell AutoPlay what you are going to do via the built in calendar.  If you are struggling to improve your lead management habits start with these 3 steps before you move on to more advanced features.

K – Killing it
AutoPlay have over 80% of franchise dealers in NZ using our services in some form or another (depending on whether you count rooftops or volume).  We have not got here by accident!  We pride ourselves on listening to dealer feedback and providing a tool that is purpose built for the Automotive industry.  We have a local development team pumping out more than 12 releases a year - if you have a pain point let us know at matt@autoplay.co.nz and we'll take a look.

L – Live Leads
Email marketing has long been a staple of the Automotive industry, but AutoPlay take this to the next level with our Live Leads eDM's.  Live Leads emails take the static images and either a voiceover and music and creates a unique video for each one of your listings.  Simply select 9-12 vehicles and track which recipients viewed which vehicles.  Particularly effective at retargeting so called "lost" leads, Live Leads can now be automated to trigger on demand or monthly, and notify lead owners when customers interact with their email.

M – Manage Your Leads
At it's core AutoPlayAuto.com is a pre-sale lead management tool designed to help dealers manage their leads.  It's impossible to keep track of all your leads without a lead management tool, and by capturing all of your leads, AutoPlayAuto.com becomes your dealerships single source of truth.

N – Notifications
AutoPlayAuto.com can be configured to generate Notifications whenever something happens that you want to know about.  From notifying managers when leads are closed lost, to our auto rotation of new leads, AutoPlayAuto.com has a comprehensive array of built in and configurable notifications.  Whether you prefer email, sms or in app notifications you can set up AutoPlay to suit your preferences.

O – OCR
AutoPlayAuto.com has a built in Drivers Licence and Business Card scanner (OCR) that can be used when creating Test Drive or Loan Car Forms.  Scanning a customers details streamlines the process of taking a photocopy of the customers drivers licence and ensures the accurate capture of customer details.

P – Purpose Built for automotive sales people
When AutoPlay first launched over a decade ago we specialised in video content and a outbound email response tool - at that point we didn't even have a lead management focus.  As we noticed dealership staff struggling with using generic CRM's and trying to make them work for selling cars we sensed an opportunity to provide a purpose built tool.  We've built AutoPlay around dealers actual processes - we follow the road to the sale and our focus has been to digitise the sales process.  As we move forward we spend a lot of time with dealers listening to their challenges and everything we build is designed to help solve a pain point for dealers.

Q – Quality Support
At AutoPlay we try our best to provide quality support to all our customers.  From our dedicated customer care account managers to our knowledgable support team, we've always tried to put our customers first.  You won't find us charging our customers for support enquiries and we always make sure you can talk to a human about your issue.

R – Reporting
AutoPlay have a full suite of more than 15 reports available via AutoPlayAuto.com.  We also have a number of custom CSV reports and can even automate certain reports where required.  At times we find some larger groups or brands want to build their own reporting, and we make this easy with our lead api available to share data with other third party vendors.  We are currently rebuilding our reporting platform to make it more robust and flexible and will roll this out over the coming months.

S – SMS
In AutoPlayAuto.com we have the ability to hook up to an SMS gateway to send either individual or bulk SMS marketing.  In NZ this is becoming more heavily utilised, but in Australia it's one of the preferred ways of communicating with customers.  SMS can even be used to send a link to a more detailed video email response - giving you the ability to deliver more detailed comms via sms.

T – Test Drives & Trade Ins
AutoPlay was built around digitising the road-to-the-sale.  From Test Drives to Trade In's (appraisals) we digitise the capture of customer information at every step in the sales process.  With AutoPlayAuto.com capturing customer infor early and often, we've found some dealers capturing more than 9x as much customer information as using the DMS alone.

U – User Friendly
AutoPlayAuto.com is easy to use.  Theres a lot of info to present, but we are always trying to display it as clearly as possible.  With so many users in NZ we've become a staple in the automotive industry, but we are not complacent!  Where possible we are constantly refining and improving our processes and functionality.

V – Video
Video has always been a huge part of AutoPlay's identity.  AutoPlay started from AutoTV which ran on C4 tv for many years.  When the audience eyeballs decreased on TV we pivoted to producing online videos, and to this day you can automatically build videos with just your normal listing images, backing music and a personalised voiceover.  Our email response tool is built around personalised videos to build rapport, and our Live Leads eDM's allow us a level of tracking of vehicle interest which helps dealer re-prospect any leads they have closed as lost.

W – Wishlists
In some cases your sales team won't be able to qualify their customers to a individual vehicle.  AutoPlay Wishlists let you record what the customer is interested in, and alert the sales team whenever a similar vehicle comes into stock or is appraised.  This function can be particularly useful with new model launches as it lets you record interest months in advance of stock being available and alerts dealers when the model comes into stock - giving them a ready list of potential buyers.

X – X-Factor
AutoPlayAuto.com gives dealers that X-Factor needed to stand out with customers.  Customers are impressed with the technology experience when using AutoPlay, and high quality video emails that are personalised to your customer help to stand out in a cluttered inbox.

Y – Your single source of truth
When AutoPlay set up a new dealership we capture all electronic leads from all sources.  We have a purpose built lead API for third parties to submit leads, but we cater to whatever we can get.  We can capture an map email leads and can even facilitate FTP imports to capture spreadsheets of new leads.  With the help of companies like WildJar and Avanser AutoPlay can capture phone leads and our easy to use software makes it easy to manually load leads.  With CRM integration with many OEM's in NZ we make it easy for them to distribute leads throughout the netowrk - making AutoPlay your single source of truth for all sales leads in the dealership.

Z – (New) Zealand’s number one automotive pre-sale lead management tool
Cheating a little here, but AutoPlay is NZ's number one automotive pre-sale lead management tool.  It's been a tough year, but end it in style by refocusing on your lead management process to make the most out of your leads.  AutoPLay has a huge number of built in features and optional upgrades that help dealers increase accuracy, efficiency and results.  If you are not making the most of any of the features outlined above contact your account manager to find out how AutoPlay can help you.

The article below will be published in an upcoming issue of Autofile magazine. 

AutoPlay has a wealth of reporting information for your dealership.  Contact your Account Manager to find out more about our comprehensive reporting suite.

In July we saw a slight drop from June to July across all KPI's with lead volume decreasing 4.6% from June, Test Drives decreasing by 4% and sales decreasing by 4.5%.  August was trending similarly to June until the return of Level 3 in Auckland/Level 2 in the rest of NZ on August 12th.  With the added hurdles in trading, combined with a general slowdown in economic activity August has seen significant drops across the board.  You can read more about the downturn in AutoPlay tracked KPI's HERE.

As of 28th August the top sources of leads remain unchanged from previous months with 'Web - Classified' and 'Web - Dealer' taking out the top two spots, and leads from 'Brand' being the third most common source of leads for Kiwi dealers (AutoPlays customer base is heavily skewed towards franchise dealers).

Web - Classified - Down 24.7% (vs 0.2% decrease in July)
Web - Dealer - Down 28.4% (vs 2.2% decrease in July)
Brand - Down 34.2% (vs 6.7% decrease in July)
August figures as at 3.25pm 28/08/20

As a face to face activity Test Drives were always bound to suffer with Auckland unable to trade.  Test Drives are down across the board, but interestingly the top 3 sources of test drives, whilst unchanged have been noticeably more impacted in August that the less common sources of Test Drives.  

Web - Classified - Down 28.1% (vs 2.9% increase in July)
Web - Dealer - Down 39.5% (vs 3.3% increase in July)
Direct - Down 40.6% (vs 0.1% increase in July)
August figures as at 3.25pm 28/08/20

After strong months in June & July sales have decreased again in August.  Whether this would have occurred as forecasted by many people WITHOUT the return of Covid impose shutdowns we will never know.

Web - Classified - Down 17.3 (vs 6.9% decrease in July)
Web - Dealer - Down 33.5% (vs 4.1% decrease in July)
Repeat - Down 21.0% (vs 6.2% decrease in July)
August figures as at 3.25pm 28/08/20

When NZ last returned from Level 3 lockdown we saw the market bounce back fairly quickly with strong June and July results for most dealers.   With Auckland returning to Level 2 on Monday 31st August it will be interesting to see how quickly the market bounces back this time.  AutoPlay will bring you all the details in future editions of The PlayBook.   

With Auckland in Covid Level 3 from 12th August until 31st August we've seen a definite slowdown across the main KPI's that AutoPlay track across our customer base.  Obviously Auckland has borne the brunt of it but we are also see slowdown through the rest of NZ as well.  

If you are interested in the top sources of Leads, Test Drives and Sales in July 2020 check out our post here.  This month we thought it would be more valuable to share some recent information about how the market is performing.

The first week of the return to Level 3 in Auckland/Level 2 in the rest of NZ saw the biggest dip with the week of the 12th seeing leads decreasing considerably.  The week beginning the 17th rebounded slightly but AutoPlay customers are still generating 18% fewer leads MTD than in July, and 26% fewer leads MTD than in August (as at 23rd August 2020).  Cumulatively performance is still much better than May, but well below June and July levels.

With limited to no face to face sales contact permitted in Level 3, and a heightened sensitivity in Level 2 Test Drives were always going to suffer with the resurgence of Covid-19.  So far up to 23rd August we've seen a decrease of 21% MTD from July, and 26% MTD from June.

Like Test Drives, Appraisals were always bound to suffer with less f-2-f trading as an activity that is mostly done face to face.  Of all the KPI's AutoPlay track Appraisals have proven to be the most impacted at Level 3 with 21% fewer than the same time in July MTD, and 31% down MTD from June.  

During the shutdown in Auckland we have been heartened to see dealers are still logging into AutoPlayAuto.com to manage their leads.  We have seen a decrease of 8% MTD from July, and 9% MTD from June, but as you can see from the graphs above, logins have mostly remained constant over the last few months.  This highlights the importance that dealers place in managing leads and we view it as a great positive sign that dealers are adapting well to working digitally.

When we next post we hope to be able to bring you some positive numbers as Auckland returns to Level 2 from 31st August.

AutoPlay are always interested in supporting ways that can help dealers streamline their processes.  We have recently started working with Ripa who are a brand new app designed to help motor dealers in NZ buy and sell stock in just 1 hour.
 
Install the Ripa app on your device, complete the easy signup and Register now to be able to buy and sell motor vehicles. Their unique tender / auction model lasts just an hour - in just 60 minutes you'll have an offer for any vehicle you list. Aged stock or trade ins - you decide!

For a limited time Ripa are offering the service for only $1 per completed deal and no cost for any deals not completed!

You can Download the App from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store today.
You can visit https://www.ripa.co.nz/ to learn more about Ripa or just click on the relevant app store for your device to install the app and register today.
 
AutoPlay have integrated with Ripa and - if you are an AutoPlay user, go to your Ripa settings and link your Ripa account with AutoPlay.

Once AutoPlay receive the set up request we will activate a button located on the Appraisal and Listing screen for you to push the listing to Ripa.  Ripa will handle the rest including listing your vehicle and removing it when required.

In June we saw the market bounce back quickly with pre-sale lead, test drive activity returning to levels comparable to pre Covid-19 levels.  Although June was such a strong month for many dealers across the market, it was of course due to the market returning to normal levels after the trials of shutting down during Level 3 & 4.  The strong performance continued in July with just a small drop off from June to July.  Overall Lead volume was down 4.6% from June, Test Drives decreased by 4% and sales decreased by 4.5%.

Leads - Down 4.6%
Test Drives - Down 4.0%
​Sales - Down 4.5%

After seeing leads experience a significant "dead cat bounce" in June, July saw a slight dip across all sources electronic to f-2-f.  Leads from classified listings websites were fairly static - dropping just 0.2% from June and remaining a great way to reach a wide range of customers in the used space.  Dealership leads decreased by 2.2% and brand generated leads dropped by 6.7% from June to July 2020.

Web - Classified - Down 0.2%
Web - Dealer - Down 2.2%
Brand - Down 6.7%

Test Drive activity remains strong with Saturday by far the most common day for Test Drives.  Although Test Drives decreased overall by 4%, the top 3 sources of Test Drives actually increased with Test Drives from 'Web - Classified' leads increasing by 2.9%, 'Web - Dealer' attributed Test Drives increasing by 3.3% and 'Direct' Test Drives staying strong with a 0.1% increase from June.

Web - Classified - Up 2.9%
Web - Dealer - Up 3.3%
Direct - Up 0.1%

After such a strong month in June, AutoPlay customers saw a small drop in sales recorded in AutoPlay in July.  Sales attributed to the 'Web - Classified' sources decreased by 6.9%, whilst sales from 'Web - Dealer' channels dropped by 4.1% and 'Repeat' customers dropped by 6.2%.

Web - Classified - Down 6.9%
Web - Dealer - Down 4.1%
Repeat - Down 6.2%

A full 2 months after Covid-19 activity in dealership land still remains strong.  With the end of the wage subsidy it's anticipated we'll be seeing a tough few months to close out 2020.  AutoPlay will continue to bring you all the latest market stats (good or bad) - make sure you check back next month.