Momentum has been building, and now we are at a tipping point. After years of writing about the value of first-party data, data hygiene, real-time data activation, and marketing measurement, more dealers are investing in technologies to activate their first-party data.
Since dealers have never had access to centralized, accurate, and actionable customer engagement and transactional data, a skills gap has developed which needs to be filled.
Data Analysis, Dynamic Reporting, and Prompt Engineering Skills Will Be Needed As Dealers Organize and Activate Their Data
Since most dealers have outsourced their data management and marketing activation, the modern tools which dealers now have access to will require skills development. New job descriptions will need to be created to power the next generation of automotive retailing.
Some dealers have chosen CDP and MAP technology with robust data automation tools and marketing activation which can create campaigns with just a few clicks. These platforms, at first glance, do not need dealers to invest in data management skills.
Small and mid-market stores may never need anything more than a turnkey data management platform. That’s fine, but what about dealers who want more from their operational data?
Play the long game
The underlying dealership data, in the long-run, is more valuable than the speed of automation. Technology gets easier and even more user friendly, but data ownership is critical to stay in the retail activation game.
When dealers dive into their own data, significant revenue is there to be discovered. Someone inside the dealership must be trained to see if data hygiene is being done properly and that all engagement signals are being properly processed to update a unified customer record. Maybe this is a new training module for the team at RockED.
The good news is the investment in the right people to manage dealership data is a very wise investment.
If skeptics need any proof regarding significant growth in operating profitability (powered by modern data management tools), watch the Rohrman Automotive Group , Morgan Auto Group, and Del Grande Dealer Group. A number of other dealer groups will be added to this list as fiction is replaced by factual data about the power of first-party data management.
More than dashboards – but visualization is important
When dealers have most of their customer engagement and transactional data in one place (i.e., CDP, Snowflake, Azure, RedShift), new tools will be needed to visualize and identify opportunities specific to automotive retailing. Dashboards have been the traditional approach to data visualization.
Brad Title and the team at Gubagoo have done an amazing job with their Curator platform, and the data insights from their visualization tools are without peer today.
While dashboards will not be replaced any time soon, data visualization tools are becoming more interactive. Recently, Snowflake announced “Snowflake Intelligence,” a natural language query capability which will produce reports, charts, and summaries of data contained in Snowflake. I’m not sure how much training Snowflake will need to understand automotive KPIs and business objectives, but the out-of-the-box capabilities are impressive.
Many dealers are experimenting with ChatGPT or similar tools, which is requiring leaders to develop prompt building skills. Prompt engineering will be a valuable skill in automotive retailing, and even more critical when natural language queries can be pointed to the dealer’s operational data inside a CDP or cloud-based data platform.
Rethinking staffing models
In every dealership and dealer group, there is a list of retail superstars. Men and women who are selling the most cars and driving great net profits for the store(s). In addition to sales associates, the F&I manager is a coveted position. Their contributions to elevate back-end gross is rewarded with the second or third highest salary in the store.
Today, an experienced automotive data analyst can generate 10x the gross profits generated from the dealership’s top sales associate or even their top 10 sales leaders combined.
This is not an exaggeration because I’m seeing this first-hand. When data is centralized and real-time audiences created, the dealership’s business takes on a whole new persona. Waste is identified and reduced. Contextually relevant offers are presented to customer and prospects for sales and service.
Just-in-time marketing and outreach is enabled. Lost revenue and missed opportunities are also identified. Retention improves and dealers can build a significant moat around their business.
But to realize the additional net profits, dealers need to build the right team with modern data management, data analysis, and prompt engineering skills.
What is the plan at your dealership to attract and develop automotive data management professionals?
Do you have the skills in-house to lead your dealership in a data-driven retail marketplace?
The future of modern retailing is here
Just not in scale, yet.
The framework is being built for a data-first approach to automotive retailing. We are starting to see the impact of real AI tools in retailing, but there is still more hype in the marketplace than the delivery of transparent, peer-reviewed business improvement case studies.
In November, I will be curating the speakers, workshops, technology showcases, and mentoring session which will provide forward-thinking dealers with tools to succeed in the coming years.
I encourage dealers who are creating breakthrough technology advancements in their store(s) to share your stories at the Modern Retailing Conference (MRC), November 16-18th in Palm Beach, Florida.
Is AI delivering meaningful results today?
Some critics say that most of the products sold to dealers with the “AI” tag are just smoke and mirrors. Well, it’s time to start separating the wheat from the chaff.
I’m inviting technology companies who have scalable AI solutions to submit to be considered for the Automotive AI Showcase at MRC. At the conference, we will be recognizing one AI company as “Best in Show,” based on their demonstrated ROI for dealers, in scale.
