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.

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.

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.

In the last edition of Autotalk we shared some market stats on the recovery in the NZ market – comparing the first 20 days of May to the first 20 days of June 2020.  Understandably with May just the beginning of the recovery we saw some significant improvement over the first 20 days of each month. 

Now that June is complete, we are seeing a much less significant increase in Leads, Test Drives and Sales as activity has quickly rebounded to pre COVID-19 levels, and then flattened out.  That said the last 10 days of June continued to be positive for kiwi dealers and we saw a increase of 22.4% in the volume of Leads, Test Drives increased by 42.5% and Sales increase by 38.6%.

Leads - Up 22.4%
Test Drives - Up 42.5%
​Sales - Up 38.6%

As with the first 20 days of June, leads from the ‘Brand’ source continue to bounce back at a higher rate than online sources such as 3rd party listing sites and dealer websites.  Leads from the ‘Brand’ source increased by 43.8% from the previous month, compared to an increase of 18.8% in ‘Web Classified’ leads and 10.1% for leads from the ‘Web – Dealer’ lead source.  As we typically experience, despite the growth in the volume of leads provided by the dealers’ brand/OEM, leads from dealer and 3rd party sites still account for more than double the amount of brand generated leads.

Web - Classified - Up 18.8%
Web - Dealer - Up 10.1%
Brand - Up 43.8%

Test Drive activity remains strong with a 42.5% increase from May to June.  Test Drives from ‘Web – Classified’ sources increased by 29.4% from the previous month and overtook ‘Web -Dealer’ (up 20.1%) as the top source of test drives for kiwi dealerships.  Test Drives attributed to genuine walk-ins are often attributed to the ‘Direct’ source in AutoPlay and this source continued to increase – up 71.5% from the previous period.

Web - Classified - Up 29.4%
Web - Dealer - Up 20.1%
Direct - Up 71.6%

As with all other metrics Sales continued to bounce back in June with a 38.6% increase in from May amongst AutoPlay customers.  Sales attributed to ‘Web – Classified’ sources increased by 27.0%, sales attributed to ‘Web – Classified’ sources increased by 27.4% and sales attributed to ‘Repeat’ customers increased by 49.4%.

Web - Classified - Up 27.0%
Web - Dealer - Up 27.4%
Repeat - Up 49.4%

As has been widely discussed June was a pretty successful month for a majority of dealerships.  So far in July we have seen Lead, Test Drive and Sale activity remain pretty constant against June levels, with a slight lull recorded in the middle of the month.  

Last month AutoPlay shared some pretty crazy stats showing the increase in Lead, Test Drive and Sales activity from April to May 2020.  Given the almost complete shutdown of the market in April it was not surprising to see increases in the volume of Leads, Test Drives and Sales anywhere from 200% to 800%.
​
This month we are looking at the first 20 days of June vs the first 20 days of May.  So far this month June is running fairly close to pre COVID-19 levels.  Compared to May, Leads are up 43.0%, Test Drives up 95.7% and Sales up 64.6% MTD.

Leads from the ‘Brand’ source continue to bounce back at a higher rate than online sources such as 3rd party listing sites and dealer websites which continued to generate low volumes of leads even during the Level 3 & 4 shutdowns.  Leads from the ‘Brand’ source increased by 95.3% from the previous period in May, but still account for approximately a third of the number of leads generated by ‘Web Classified’ (up 33.4%) and ‘Web – Dealer’ (up 21.9%) lead sources.  Interestingly there is a small trend showing that the types of vehicles being enquired on are trending towards lower price ranges than during the pre COVID-19 period.

​Test Drives were one of the biggest KPI’s to bounce back in May and June (alongside Appraisals) – increasing by 95.7%.  Test Drives from ‘Web – Classified’ sources increased by 60.6% from 1st-20th May vs 1st-20th June, and overtook ‘Web -Dealer’ (up 48.6%) as the top source of test drives for kiwi dealerships.  Test Drives attributed to genuine walk-ins are often attributed to the ‘Direct’ source in AutoPlay and this source continued to increase – up 180% from the previous period.

As with all other metrics Sales continued to bounce back in June with a 64.6% increase in June 1st-20th from the same period in May.  Sales attributed to ‘Web – Classified’ sources increased by 42.0%, sales attributed to ‘Web – Classified’ sources increased by 36.7% and sales attributed to ‘Repeat’ customers increased by 62.8%.

​Overall, we are seeing a strong bounce back in activity across the majority of customers using the AutoPlay Sales Pipeline to manage their leads (approx. 80% of franchise dealership by volume).  As we know, the challenge will be to sustain this level of activity in what will surely be a challenging market for the remainder of 2020.  Make sure to check back for more regular updates from AutoPlay on pre-sale lead activity throughout NZ.