My New Adventure - Al West Nissan

[Tallcool1]

Posted my first video. A message from our new GM, Bill Vaughn. | By Al West Nissan | Facebook

I love it! You appear very comfortable in front of the camera. I am not but continue to work at it.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Posted my first video. A message from our new GM, Bill Vaughn. | By Al West Nissan | Facebook

<customer hat on> You did a great job of coming across as a human and not a dirty manager at a dealership. I especially like your comment about your wife saying it was good. And no mention of buying the $99 Sentra

 

[Zack_AF]

Solid video! I agree with Alex, you came across as genuine talking about your experience being new to the area.
To me this is the kind of stuff that builds trust and familiarity in the community vs some awkward pitch that seems fake to get people to come in.

Any plans to post videos regularly?

 

[BillVaughnKMC]

I appreciate the kind words and support. I do plan to do more.

 

[BillVaughnKMC]

Finished out my 2nd month here at Al West Nissan. We saw a:

42% increase in volume over our 90-day average
150% increase in gross profit over our 90-day average
Reduced new aging from 45 units over 90 days old to 27 units.

I know many are thinking, "Well, the entire industry crushed it in March." I get it, but I'm still calling it a win.

 

[joe.pistell]

42% increase in volume over our 90-day average

AND you dropped 2 of the big three aggregators.

 

[Marc Lavoie]

The move to scrap split deals and focus on team culture right out of the gate? That’s leadership. Curious to see how things evolve over the next few months—especially how the team responds to the new direction.

Keep sharing the behind-the-scenes. It’s refreshing and real, and more folks in the industry need to see it.

 

[BillVaughnKMC]

This numbers are still paltry, but it's amazing what happens when you merchandise vehicles quickly and price vehicles to market.

 

[BillVaughnKMC]

Got a little ballsy and did a video on tariffs.

Our new GM, Bill Vaughn, wants to talk to you about tariffs and what we will be doing here at Al West Nissan going forward. | By Al West Nissan | Facebook

Our new GM, Bill Vaughn, wants to talk to you about tariffs and what we will be doing here at Al West Nissan going forward.

www.facebook.com

 

[BillVaughnKMC]

So far I have focused mostly on sales because the service department staff and management had a lot more experience than my sales department. I've been told to make sure not to stay in my comfort zone and focus on sales, but in my case with the experience gap, I felt like I made the right decision. I still do. That being said, I've found a major constraint with the service department that will hurt them and the sales department. They are having trouble keeping up with processing used cars (service and detail) even at our slight increase from 30 units to 44 units. The main limitation appears to be space. I knew coming in that it was going to be a constraint long term, but I wasn't seeing how it was going to be so in the short term. I still haven't quite figured out what to do. There just aren't enough bays to grow it. It seems the only chance is to expand and we obviously don't have the funds for that.

The pictures are the entire service department.

The first from left to right is alignment rack, two service bays, and the spot for detail. The second from left to right is the bay they process used cars, LOF, service bay, and another LOF.