Your Dealership's Biggest Asset Isn't Your Stock... It's Your Data | Dealer Tech Talk S2E2

Every dealership collects customer data.

But very few dealerships are actually using it to grow sales, improve customer retention, or prepare for AI.

In this episode of Dealer Tech Talk, Simon Verona is joined by John from Auto Data Solutions to discuss why data has become one of the most valuable—and overlooked—assets inside modern dealerships.

They explore:

✔ Why inaccurate customer data costs far more than you think
 ✔ How poor data impacts MOT reminders, customer retention and marketing
 ✔ The importance of data cleansing and segmentation
 ✔ Why AI is only as good as the data behind it
 ✔ How recalls, MOT dates and customer journeys can create new revenue opportunities
 ✔ Three practical steps every dealership should take today

If your dealership wants to become more efficient, improve customer experience and prepare for the future, this episode is essential listening.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

The most valuable most underused assets inside any dealership today. Data. I've seen examples of databases where seventy percent of the database has got the wrong MOT data. The probability is that you'll lose almost six thousand pounds worth of profit from that customer because they're not then going to come back for next lot or serve. Both systems are now out there to be able to help with all of that. But you can't do any of that unless you do.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

In the Tech Talk, we'll explore how technology is transforming car and motorhome dealerships today. I'm Simon Verona. This podcast is sponsored by DMS Navigator, the system for making dealerships more efficient, more profitable, and delivering better customer service. A mailed companion. Today, we're talking about the most valuable and often most underused assets inside any dealership today: data. Every dealership has data, customer records, vehicle records, service histories, uh MOT dates, finance information, you name it, they've got it. But the real question is, what do the dealers do with that data and how do they use it? As dealers start to look at things like AI and automation and everything like that, the quality of their data becomes ever critical. So to help explore this question and how dealers can improve what they do today, I'm delighted to welcome John from Water Data Solutions with me today. Welcome, John. Hello, hello. Um I'll start off, John. I'm guessing many people here won't know who you are or what you do. So give us a check at history and what you do today.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

Well, I suppose luckily, uh based on today's uh activity, uh I am a self-confessed data geek. Um so I uh been in the automotive world all of my working life. Um started um 25 years ago. You're making me feel old now with uh with Vauxhall and part of the whole GM Europe world, um, and then got into data through Experian. Um had seven years with Experian and then into the Cap HPI or Cap at the time, and and then Solera took it over and became Cap HPI. Um and I met, well I actually met Mark Brassford at Xperian, um, and then I met Amanda Morgan at uh Cap HPI. The three of us decided that once we got out of the corporate world of Solera that we should set up on our own. Um, and this is a very public um uh announcement, I suppose. We've we've never gone so public with this, but uh we've said in the past that nobody knows more about automotive data in the UK than the three of us. Um, so that's a very public statement now that we can't go back on.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Um I think it's pretty we're pretty justified from my experience.

SPEAKER_03 2:51

Well, hopefully, hopefully. So so yeah, so we founded Auto Data Solutions five years ago. Um and we're we're basically we set it up to try and help the UK automotive data uh or the comp uh the UK UK automotive um sector with data, anything to do with data, and that and that um is a really we'll talk about it a lot today. It's such an important element, and people either don't know what to do with it, they have so much of it, uh, there are areas that they know don't work, they know they they should be doing more of it, but they don't do because they don't really know what to do with it. And and we'll talk a lot today about it being in the too difficult pile. Um then they go with that whether that's data cleansing or whether that is safety recall, um, or whether that is out and out uh data queries about valuations um or um data with regard to MOTs. Um we'll I'm sure we'll talk about all of those things today, but it's all areas that people really struggle with.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

I mean, I think data's a vast subject. But when do you first or when you first talk to dealers, what's the first thing that they actually kind of they come to you with what do they perceive their largest problem actually is?

SPEAKER_03 4:07

They they know they have problems with data, they just don't know how to do anything about it. Um and and that's the main problem. They might be sat on a database of you know a 50,000, 100,000, 250,000 records, um, but they don't know the size of the the the either the problem or the opportunity, see it either way. Um because it's it's as we've said already, it's in the too difficult path. Um and it's and data cleansing, I suppose, has been one of those bits that we've really looked at a lot because it's an area that has failed in the past, it's been too difficult. Um and and you know, as from a from a DNS navigator perspective, of you have this huge database, but exporting all that data, cleansing that data, importing that data becomes a real difficulty. Um and and that is where they just don't know where to go and don't know what to do about it.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Do do you perceive? I mean, I think when you talk when I talk about things like that, I always think that perhaps the the dealer groups, the larger entities kind of get that they have a problem more than the smaller ones. Um I'm not sure they actually necessarily deal with the problem any better. But do but do we is it is it perceived through the through the trade that right from the largest to the smallest, that data is a challenge and data is a problem? I mean, is it as a problem for the independent, for example, as it is for for the large PLCs?

SPEAKER_03 5:41

It is. Um, and I suppose I hear a lot around I suppose the small the smallest end and the independent end saying that customer retention doesn't matter to them. And I'm amazed by that statement.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Uh I think I think it's starting to change.

SPEAKER_03 5:56

Yes. Yeah, yeah. Um and the fact that actually they don't necessarily need to do data cleansing because the retention isn't something that really that really bothers them. So they don't need to know whether that person is still owning the car or whether they've died or moved a dress, or um, and obviously in the independent world, safety recalls don't matter to them, so it's not an opportunity, it's a bigger opportunity anyway, to drive LAPS customers back into their dealership. Um, but ultimately it is still a huge headache for the larger dealer groups as well. It's actually a far more expensive and difficult problem to overcome if you're a large dealership. If you're a small dealership, it might only cost 500 quid to cleanse your entire usable database. And that's an important part around saying, okay, well, you don't need to look at your entire database because actually, if you haven't seen somebody for more than seven years, from your privacy notices perspective, are you actually allowed to be contacting them? So why does it matter that they change their car or their MOT date is wrong or whatever else? Actually, if you just focus on those last seven years, your bill is a lot lower. So it's a lot more difficult, a lot more easy to manage.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

I mean that that that brings two questions to mind straight away. I think the first one, um, you've mentioned the word cost. Um and but I think do dealers actually recognize that their database is an asset, and that asset has an actual pound notes of value, and therefore this isn't a cost, it's actually an investment in that asset and adding value to that asset. Is that is that is that I mean, I I know from my history that um lots of dealers historic historically have seen the cost of that and struggle to see value, and I think a lot of that is because they don't have a pound, shillings, and pence, if you're old in old terms, value of what that asset actually is worth to them.

SPEAKER_03 8:00

I completely agree. Um, and when you're looking at probably your most valuable asset, which is your database, yes, of course they've got um buildings and uh people and whatever else um as part of that uh uh asset structure, but actually knowing who all these people are in your database, how do you then contact these people? How do you know that they are the right people to contact? How do you know when to contact them? How do you manage that retention strategy, that whole CRM world of relationship management, unless you know more about them, and we'll talk today, I'm sure, about data segmentation and knowing and which bucket to put these people into. It's not necessarily just this huge database that should be in one pot. It becomes even more valuable if you know everything about this database. Um, and and and people don't really understand. Again, comes back to is it in the too difficult part? Yeah, is it too difficult to actually start segmenting that data? Yeah. And what people need to try to understand is it's not, it's not a difficult thing to do to realize the true value of that database.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

The second question that that that that jumped into my mind during a lot of that is yeah, obviously data has a value. And and I think I mean for me, I like to draw parallels with dealers to things like you know, Facebook or Google or you know, a lot of the social media companies where inherently their whole asset value is the value of their users, that you know, the you know, it's massive. You know, Facebook has a multi billion, multi-hundred billion dollar value, which is purely driven by the asset value of their customer base, people who are using the platform. And I think you know that starts to sink in. But I think the other one that always strikes me, and I and I have conversations with dealers all the time as well, is when you talk about archiving data, deleting data from your database, they kind of like go, deleting data, that's that's getting rid of value. Um, and I and I know I always tell them that you know, deleting data that you know, your database doesn't have an equal value. You know, there's there's obviously the high value, the good value customers. If you can get rid of the dross, and you mentioned it, people who haven't been in the dealership for five, six, seven years, you know, people who probably have changed their cars and you're you're you're you're writing to them or marketing them on purely invalid basis. Um, are you are you are you seeing that dealers are starting to understand much more that value of just you know actually having 10,000 good customer records is much better than having a hundred thousand where the value, you know, where the data is is uncertain.

SPEAKER_03 10:57

Absolutely. Um it's the opportunity cost, you know, as far as the amount of time and wastage there is con trying to contact or not contacting people who where the data is inaccurate. So whether that is the simplicity of an MOT date and trying to send reminders out at the wrong time for an MOT date. If you have all of that data that's incorrect in your database, then there is that inaccuracy. But then if you're contacting people who sold their car two years ago and you're trying to, you might phone them or I I've had I've heard m cases of huge amounts of money spent writing to people and sending service reminders out and sending MOT reminders out, and they sold their car five years ago. Reputational damage of that when people constantly get those reminders through the post, even though they sold their car years ago. The actual cost of all of that postage going out and and sending those letters out, and then the opportunity cost if you've got a call center or just a service advisor constantly spending time chasing people up who no longer gonna come in anyway. They're never gonna come in. So all of that wastage is huge.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

So it's really important to have just have those viable data records in your database that you sub that you do segment and you contact them at the right times about the right things.

SPEAKER_00 12:29

So let's talk a little bit about uh about that. I mean, you know, if you've got a dealer, uh I mean, I'll give some examples, you know, and we we in my day job at Navigator, we migrate customer databases from one system to another, you know, from their old system to our out to existing system. And what I often see is we're just taking data that thrown up from that system, and we'll see that some of that data came from the system previous to that. And there are tens and you know, thousands and thousands of records, and just looking at it, it's it's dross, you know, it's not they're all dross, but 90% of that database is you might as well just go, just dump it. It has no value. Um, are dealers aware though that obviously that's relatively easy because they can look at their own history. Are dealers aware of some of the technology and what's available to then take the data they've got and actually improve that and add quality to it beyond that?

SPEAKER_03 13:28

I don't think so. Um it would be mine's but it'd be my contention, they probably don't know where absolutely um because uh it comes back to how can we enhance that data? How can uh just a very simplistic level? How can we get the right MOT dates allocated to each of those customer records? So we've had examples and I've seen examples of databases where 70% of the database has got the wrong MOT date.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah, I mean that's just and that's just amazing because I'm sure everybody's aware that you can go straight to the DVSA site, type in a registration number, and it will tell you next next MOT date. So it's very, very easy on a one-by-one basis to check an MOT date. But I don't think many dealers, and certainly in my experience, many dealers are aware that actually there shouldn't be a record in your database with a historical MOT date. If it's got an historical reason, it may have a historical MOT date is it no longer has a current MOT or it's probably been scrapped. Yes, is the most likely scenario. Um, you know, and and and I see that 70% of your data hasn't got an MOT date because to be fair, for a lot of dealers, particularly in the franchise dealer, that's probably the first service work that you'll lose. Because always to perceive that they can go somewhere else to get an MOT cheaper, better. Um, that's not necessarily the truth, but certainly I think customer perception is that, and if you let the dealer customer lapse and don't then start sending them MOT reminders, well, you're never going to get those customers back into the dealership.

SPEAKER_03 15:03

No, uh and um there's there's stats galore to back all that up because there's stats around um uh there's something in the press uh just a few weeks ago to say if you lose that customer after three years, so let's say you uh you maintain that relationship after three for three years but then lose it, the big probability is that you'll lose almost six thousand pounds worth of profit from that customer because they're not then going to come back for next lot of service, they're not gonna come back for the next sale, they're not gonna come back for that that constant uh relationship management with that customer. Yeah, that's huge, a huge opportunity cost.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

And I think the great thing about an MOT date is it's a certain, you know, every vehicle has to have an MOT. Whereas you can argue, well, my car doesn't need a service yet. Whilst you might claim as a dealer, yes, you need to get your car service, particularly when it's in warranty, you can make that claim. Whereas it goes out of warranty, it becomes a little bit less of a requirement and more of a uh almost a luxury item. I can make a decision whether I get my car serviced or not. MOT has to be MOT, it can't, you know, it's not road legal without it. And it's much easier to capture and retain a customer on that data point than it is on a lot of the other data points that that you can have in there.

SPEAKER_03 16:34

And and you can learn from other countries as well. As far as um stats we've heard over in the States around if you have five visits, if a customer visits you five times after you after they buy the car from you, 70% of those you're 70% more likely to sell them a car.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

It's it's almost back to the old the the uh kind of the the marketing, I'll put my marketing hat on for a second. The old marketing adage is to sell something, you need seven points of contact with that customer. Um and but the same thing happens to an existing customer to a limited degree, and you've got that opportunity to keep those contacts going through the through the through you know through the lifetime. And of course, it's much cheaper to retain a customer than it is to get a new one. I mean, they are they're they're straightforward marketing, markety speak stuff um in there, um going there. What else? I mean, we've talked about MOT dates. What else can a the dealer actively do to improve his database, give him a better connection with his date with his customer?

SPEAKER_03 17:42

Um, so uh there's all sorts of what we would call vehicle cleansing, other vehicle cleansing. So do they still do all these customers in your database still own the car that you think they do? So you sold you sold them a car four years ago. Has there been a change of keeper since that date?

SPEAKER_02 17:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

So so then again, it's a case of you know you're not looking to delete those customers, but you treat them differently because you now know that they no longer own that car.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

So that's coming back to your segmentation concept. You know, this customer is no longer a service prospect for that car, but therefore he's in a segment of somebody who may well still buy a car in the future, yeah, probably still owns a car, but we don't know which. And we can then put him into another bucket and he will get a different type of marketing, which is probably more appropriate to him in there.

SPEAKER_03 18:35

Yes, absolutely. Um, and uh then you're into that whole data segmentation and having the same if you're happy, for example, to give 25% off your next service or 50% off an MOT, and you're happy to do that for any of your customers, be they elapsed customers, current customers, frequent customers, then you can put them into different buckets and you can then start to say, right, here we go, Mr. Customer. You haven't been in to see us for two years, we'll give you 25% off to persuade you to come back.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 19:12

Or you're a frequent customer, you come in every year, we'll give you 25% off because of your great loyalty to us.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

So you're giving them the same similar discount, but you're giving them for a different reason. One's for loyalty, one's to try and re-engage with somebody who's elapsed.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

And if you find out that they've lost, they've they've sold their car, then it's a case of a slightly different message again to be able to then say here's 25% off because you're a lapsed customer. Now it's how you message that. There's all sorts of different messages you can put because you don't want to become big brother, you don't want to look like you you you know that you've looked well sold the car.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

Yeah, I mean I I have that. I mean, I think we have that, I have that concept. Uh, we use that in this obviously in sales environment. You know, you obviously you can track customers on the websites, never ring the customer and say, Oh, I've seen you been on their website in the last five minutes. Uh, that's gonna scare the life out of them. And it's the same concept.

SPEAKER_03 20:03

You can't sort of uh have you changed have do you still own the car? Yeah, or your your car ABC 123 is due an MOT. Do you still own it? Yeah. Knowing very well that they don't, but then then that doesn't look like you know that you do know. So you can have that messaging out to yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

So I mean taking the extension that obviously having the right data and having it cleansed, have it segmented is the first part of it. You then got to think very hard about what messages you want to send to each segment as well, um, to get that right thing, that right item in there. Um, we've talked about the value of the data asset, we've talked about the guess the value of kind of investing in that data to keep it clean. We've talked about MOT, we've talked about things like keeper change, and I know there are plenty of other things you can do. So, for example, I know if a customer moves house and he moves out of the area and is in a postcode to the other end of the country, you're probably less likely to get him in for service than somebody who lives around the corner. Different segments. So again, you can segment segment the customer based on that. But if a dealership did nothing, you know, I I think a lot of dealers will go, well, I won't cleanse the data, I won't invest in that. I know what I'll just keep blasting out emails or sending out a few letters or do text message campaigns. You know, I know that you know dealers are doing that, all of those things in our in our system all the time. Um, and the cost is, you know, the cost of sending an email out isn't that expensive. What is the cost of not doing it? Not doing the data cleanse, you know, just going, you know, what we'll just carry this lump of data around with us. Um, because obviously it's not a necessarily a pound notes cost where the money's leaking out of the dealership. Where where is that cost of not of doing nothing?

SPEAKER_03 21:57

Um the pound note cost of the Of what we've talked about already, as far as the wastage of time spent uh chasing people up that have got dirty data. Um but I think there is a reputational cost. You know, every time I know people who have got private plates on cars and you receive your MOT reminder at the right time, but it has on the wrong it has the wrong plate on it.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:24

Why don't they know that that's my plate? They sold me the car. Why that's ridiculous. Um and I and I think there is actually there's a you could argue and start to discuss, and we are having this conversation all the time about the culture of the company that you're working for, and and the the getting the right people and understanding the efficiencies of those people working in your business. If they've if the culture is a data accuracy culture, then you're getting the right people into your business, and it's then not just about actually how they operate data, it's how they operate on a day-to-day life. Yeah, I mean that have really good people in who are doing the right things at the right time.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

It does amaze me that I I I know, you know, I I I I often comment, you know, if I ring a mobile phone company, the gas company, electricity company, the big utilities. And if I ring them for any reason, you know, to query a bill, to re renew, renew my contract, whatever it is, before I can talk to anybody about anything, they're always going to say, Can I check your mobile number? Is you still your email address? They're always using that opportunity to cleanse that data. You know, they have that A in their culture, B in their processes. And you very rarely ever see that in a dealership. And I remember, for example, I change my car quite regularly, and I and I and I move house or used to move house quite a lot as well, and but I always used to use the same dealership. And I used to remember every time I went into the dealership, the job car printed out with my old address on it, and I'd point it out and they would scribble over it in pen and write my new address, saying my mobile number, they would scribble my old number out and write it on. And then next time I came in, it hadn't changed. It was still exactly the same. Um, you know, I don't necessarily think that culture has kind of got through into the dealership that you know you're spending a lot of money, you've got this asset of your database, you've got people who are actually communicating with the dealership day in, day out, and it's still wrong after that process.

SPEAKER_03 24:31

And I can't put an actual number on it because every deal is different. But if you're an MO, assuming you've got a workshop and you've got an MOT bay for multiple MOT bays, the majority, the average cost of an MOT, the actual um invoice value of an MOT is over £200 these days from the upsell opportunities that come from it.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 24:53

And if you're sending an MOT reminder out six weeks after the MOT was actually due, because your data is wrong in your database. Yeah, what chance have you got of getting that customer in for that MOT?

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Even worse if you're sending it to the wrong ME the wrong email address.

SPEAKER_03 25:08

Wrong email address, the wrong uh address generally. Yeah. But there are lots of reasons why you might be contacting that person at the wrong time, but that is a huge opportunity cost gone. That you're you're if you if you are able to uh get MOTs done at the right or send reminders out at the right time for an average invoice value of 200 pounds each time, that is a huge amount of wastage in this game. Well, just literally everyone can do their own maths there. Yeah, yeah. 200 pounds multiplied by a number of customers that you think you've got, that's what you're missing out on.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

No, absolutely. If you miss the MOT opportunity, it's not just the the MOT, which many dealers will consider perhaps the MOT itself as being not profitable. But obviously the upsell from that is, and it's impossible to generate the value of the customer retention from that, because you know if you have your customer coming in every year for his MOT, if something goes wrong with his car in between, who's he gonna call? He's gonna come to you as well, isn't it? Whereas if you've let him lapse his MOT to somebody else, whoever that is, that person's also gonna be the people that he contacts first rather than you. Yeah, I like that. Um, one thing you've mentioned quite a lot, and I doubt that most dealers are aware of the opportunity, and this is mainly I think in the franchise sector, more not, is the opportunity of the recall. Um I know a lot of the deal franchise dealers will kind of think, well, recall is done by the franchise, they do that themselves. But how does how how does you know how what what is the power of the recall? What can be done today on recalls that perhaps couldn't have been done a year, two, five years ago?

SPEAKER_03 27:05

Well, again, it comes back to reasons to get the customer into your workshop. And and I know from talking to a lot of franchise dealers, they they see a recall as a as a pain, not an opportunity. Yes. You have uh different franchises that have different attitudes towards a recall. Um and you have uh sometimes thousands of recalls and a campaign that has thousands of cars on it, and a lot of those are just checks as opposed to actual work that needs to be definitely carried out. But it's another reason for to bring that customer into your into your workshop to carry that check out.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

And the beauty, of course, is is that if you do it properly, it it's almost 100% guaranteed to get the customer in.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

Completely. And and again, but doing it at the right time. So if a camp if you know a campaign's gone out and you don't want to inundate your workshop with a load of five-minute checks for maybe only 10% of them actually with work to carry out, don't contact everybody at the same time. Put them back into that MOT bucket, contact them at the same time as the MOT is due, because then that's another reason for them to definitely come in for the MOT at your workshop.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

So it gives them the ability, so it kind of uh it uh can be used to improve the MOT offering. Because of course, if you're a franchise dealer and you're sending them a letter saying, just let you know your MOT is due, they'll go, Oh, thanks for that. I'll ring Fred down in the shed at the bottom of the road and get my MOT done. Thanks, mate. Whereas if you're saying something on the lines of, oh, by the way, did you know your MOT was due? And whilst your MOT was due was being done, we've actually also got these recalls we could do at the same time. Now you've just excluded Fred in the shed to doing the work. He's got to come to you as his franchise dealer to come and get those recalls done. And now the value of that is just massively enhanced.

SPEAKER_03 29:07

Massively enhanced, and it also enhances your workshop management as well, because you're not just bringing a car in for a five-minute, potentially a five-minute check, you're bringing a car in, yes, to have the five-minute check, but at the same time, you can have the MOT done. So you're you're you're then therefore bringing it in for a half-hour job as opposed to a five-minute check job.

SPEAKER_00 29:29

And I guess going back to that data segmentation concept, you know, treating recalls on a customer that hasn't been in the dealership for two or three years, uh, somebody who is probably not going to respond to a service, an MOT reminder, because if he was, he would have done last year. Yep. The recall gives you a valuable way of engaging with that becomes increasingly larger sector over the years of people who you've lost to the after sales, getting them back in to their so you can kind of go let you know your car's due a recall, book it in, bring it in for the recall, and then you've then got the opportunity to re-engage with them and go, well, okay, why haven't we got your service work or your OT work? What can we do to get you back in? And you're then bringing somebody who is lost to the dealership back in, and you're making some money while you're doing it, albeit only at warranty rates.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

Yes, absolutely. Um, but uh but the the the numbers are astounding sometimes. You know, when you look at a database um uh of customers you or potential customers or laps customers, then you're looking at a database and saying, okay, well, um we've seen numbers where 20% of the lapse customers have got an outstanding recall.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

And we've often talked about already that in a database, 70% of your database may be lapsed customers. So therefore 20% of that is a fifth of seven seventy percent. You're still you're talking at a 20%, you know, 17, 18% of your database, which is probably tens of thousands of records, even in the smallest of dealerships, yeah, are there ready to be re-engaged with and bring back into the dealership.

SPEAKER_03 31:16

And they and they can't go to a fast fit center for the recall.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Yeah, precisely that. Yeah, I mean, they can see the value of that massively, absolutely. Yeah, um, I think also the it's a or is there? I know I think is there a hidden value to the recall database when you're in the sales opportunity appraising a used vehicle. Uh, you know, and I'm thinking on the lines of I think a lot of dealers complain that you know the time to prep a vehicle to be retailed when they bring it into stock becomes massive if that's got a recall. So if it's not in your own franchise and you've got another franchise, another make of car here, and it's got a recall, you're in the same boat that the customer was. You've got to send that car to another dealership for the recall to be done. You can't realistically sell a car with an outstanding recall. So knowing being armed with that data earlier on in the process can change your buying decision, how much you want to spend on that car um at that point, and therefore can can save you being lumbered with a car that is just aging because you can't sell the thing.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

Completely agree. Uh it it's a very much at point of appraisal, uh, knowing as much as you possibly can about the car is so important. And and if you're if you're doing uh if you're doing a spec check on the car and understanding that it's got that option, that option, and that option, then that's that's all about understanding the true value of the car and understanding what you're gonna be able to give as a part exchange. And that and that's all potentially looking at upside and saying, well, actually, yes, it's got that option, so therefore I'm gonna have I'm happy to spend 500 pounds or give 400-500 pounds more for it. But actually, in the completely opposite end of the spec of the spectrum, if it's got an outstanding recall, you should be taking money off it because it's gonna take you time and effort to be able to understand what that recall is.

SPEAKER_00 33:17

And the good thing, of course, is that realistically you can have a good, sensible conversation with the prospect and explain why that car has got less value. And realistically, he knows that's probably gonna have the same less value wherever he goes. It's not a case of you'd like to lose it on the basis of that because it's it has devalued his car. Um, another thing we're talking about, we talked about date customer databases. Um there's always that problem of kind of what I consider to be the single source of truth. Um, and you know, I speak to dealers all the time of all sizes, and I think they all have the same problem uh to various degrees, where their database is just scattered. They have customer data in different systems, they have you know a CRM system, they have a DMS system, they might have a I don't know, uh some sort of finance compliance system with customer data in, and it's all got the different data. One's been updated, one hasn't. It's I mean, uh you know, do you perceive that that's getting uh worse now? I think as a million more expert systems come into the dealership.

SPEAKER_03 34:26

Completely. Um so um there there are so many different systems, and every single one of those, almost every single one of those, has got some kind of customer database. Um, and then the integration of those systems aren't necessarily as strong as they as they could be. Um now, as a as a data man, I might not necessarily always say that it has to be the DMS that is a single point of truth, but I would say almost certainly most of the time it needs to be because what else would it be?

SPEAKER_00 35:02

I mean, it's certainly I think the the largest data point, yeah. Uh I would think, and and I'm I think I'm I kind of follow the line that you're taking. I always recommend to D. And I'm surprised that more dealers don't put that as a requirement in their buying checklists that goes that if they're buying new software, and there's nothing wrong with buying expert software to do specific tasks. Um, but you know, and I we and I know a lot of dealers talk about, you know, the integration of process, you know, how hard, you know, I think of the sales process where you watch a sales guy flip from system to system to system, dealers are starting to recognize the loss of value and the customer, you know, the customer pain that is inherently felt secondhand by the sales exec having to go through those systems. But I don't necessarily think that dealers are actually recognising that the end result that your data is being spread around as well, uh, and saying, well, actually, you know, part of the process of adding a new system in has got to be we need a thing to maintain that single source of data because then everything we talk about, segmentation of data, cleansing of data, becomes much more diluted and much less valuable overall.

SPEAKER_03 36:21

Uh completely. Um and the most important thing from for my side as a data person is that that single point of truth is somewhere. If they don't have it somewhere, then you you do you can't manage data properly. You know, we've we've talked about MOT a lot in the last half an hour or so. But if you have an MOT date in one system that says one thing, and an MOT date that says something else somewhere else, and you have a customer name saying one thing in one system and a VRM saying something else somewhere else, or an email address in one system that's different to the email address in the other. So you have to have that single point of truth. The DMS is, I would say, for a for a small medium-sized dealer, the DMS is the only way to go. If you're a big dealer group that where you might have multiple DMS providers or certainly multiple um different databases because you've acquired databases, you might look for a customer database platform or a data lake and all of these these areas.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

But that's only for the big that's very big PLCs.

SPEAKER_03 37:38

It doesn't take all your DMSs feeding, then you have your DMSs and your after-sales systems and your sales systems and all your CRM systems all feeding into one single point of truth.

SPEAKER_01 37:49

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 37:49

Um, but as far as the the small medium dealer group is concerned, then the DMS is is it's their call. It's a magic magic box that everyone needs to be using.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

I can only agree with that, obviously. Uh that as my background. Um moving on, AI. We haven't talked about I've I think it's the first conversation I've had with anybody uh that's lasted more than 20 minutes where we've not yet talked about AI, but AI is it's hard to get away from. Every conversation has it, every dealership is thinking or should be thinking about using consuming AI. And I know that I always preach that AI is just generic large language module model, unless you've got some very, very good connected data to back that up. And I think just going just sort of coming back to what we've spoken about so far, the future where we're looking to use our database in with AI, if it's crap data, your AI is also then gonna be junk.

SPEAKER_03 38:55

Yeah, there is there's there's not a huge amount of difference when it comes to looking at the wastage argument, whether you're talking about wastage within a call center or within an after-sales department or a sales department, you've still got people uh without AI, you've got people wasting time. If you then go out and invest in AI and and and the cost of that, there's obviously there's always a cost of AI. So why would you then if you've got a voice AI as one example and you're paying per minute for that voice AI to be going out and contacting people, why are you therefore happy to pay per minute for them to contact somebody who no longer owns the car that you thought they did?

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Yeah. And obviously, then you're and I think the uh the other thing, of course, you know, if you think about reputational risk, which we've talked about, sending a few letters out, there is a you know, people get used to going and getting a letter, okay, putting that in the bin, there's a it's a low but real reputation risk. When your phone rings and somebody says, I'm looking to book your voxel insignia in for a service, and he goes, I sold that five years ago, the reputational risk because we've got that intrusion is is obviously much, much higher.

SPEAKER_03 40:11

It's just you know, AI is very, very good at following things up. Yes, because that's why you invest in it. Yeah. So if AI constantly, rather than one phone call into somebody who no longer owns the car or the wrong MOT data, all the things we've spoken about today, it does five or emails, yeah. It's the same thing, it's really good at the follow-up, then the reputation it's gonna get even worse.

SPEAKER_00 40:35

Yeah, I mean, at least at least you know, if you've got a human, one human in your big dealership making phone calls every day, they're probably gonna talk to 10 people, probably realistically, no matter how many times they pick the phone up. But if you've got a voice agent that can make literally dozens, thousands of calls a minute in an hour, you know, that is just multiplied up so much higher in there. Um that's great. Um, we've talked a lot about data quality systems. There's a lot of things that dealers can do today. Um, there's you know, lots of things. If I if I if you were talking to a dealer today, so somebody listening or watching this podcast, and you were to go to something that you were to say to them, what are three things that are easy, cheap, and quick to do today that have a really good payback? What would those be, those three things?

SPEAKER_03 41:28

Um, I would say first thing, improve the cult the data culture of your organization. So make data uh a KPI in everybody's think of it as an asset, an asset that needs to be maintained, but also measure measure how good it is. Yep. So and and ensure that within that culture there's an updating culture of data. Don't accept the fact that somebody, a salesperson, an after sales agent doesn't put data in and and misses out on a uh a um a service date or doesn't put an MOT date into the database. Doesn't follow up with that with that data accuracy. Yep. Because as soon as things start getting missed, the culture is therefore then there an inaccurate culture is being spread around the entire business. So make sure that culture is right from the very from from tomorrow. Do something to understand that how where you are from a data accuracy perspective. Yeah. And that is number two on my list. Get an audit done.

SPEAKER_00 42:41

See what you've got. You don't you can't see you don't you can't see what the big how big the problem is if you look.

SPEAKER_03 42:46

Absolutely. Yeah. So understand how many uh how how many uh email addresses am I missing, how many phone numbers am I missing, how many MOT dates are wrong, how many cars are no longer owned by the by the keeper, how many addresses are wrong, how many unfortunate dead people are there in my database? All of this, all of this can be measured really, really quickly with an audit that can take place. Um and and that then then drives that accuracy of data, drives the culture, understands where the opportunities lie with with those databases. Um number three stop doing nothing.

SPEAKER_00 43:26

Doing nothing's not an op absolutely not an option.

SPEAKER_03 43:29

Don't don't do nothing, don't take it off the too difficult part. It isn't too difficult, you know.

SPEAKER_00 43:35

It comes back, it comes into that how how how do you how do you eat an elephant one bite at a time? Take that first bite, do something.

SPEAKER_03 43:42

Yes, absolutely. And and the the systems that are now out there, the DMS providers, are are now able to help with that segmentation, help with that ability to be able to contact people at the right time about the right thing in the right way, have different messaging available based on which bucket you fall into as a customer or the customer falls into. Those systems are now out there to be able to help with all of that, but you can't do any of that unless your data's right.

SPEAKER_00 44:12

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, well, John, this making data an interesting subject is not easy. I think we've done it, we've tried. Um yeah, um I'm um thank you very much for uh for joining me on Dealer Tech Talk. Um, if anybody wants to contact John, his contact details will be in the show notes. And I would certainly recommend that if you're not sure what to do today, picking the phone up to John is probably a good thing to do. Um, definitely. Thanks for listening to Dealer Tech Talk. Don't forget to subscribe on your normal channels, on your normal podcasts. Um This podcast has been sponsored by DMS Navigator and Motor Companion. And till next time, thank you. Thank you, John.