Brian Kramer, GM, Accu-Trade

Kyle Mountsier: 0:00This is In the Dirt with ASOTU. We're sitting here with the man the myth, the legend at the Cars.com. Booth. Brian Kramer GM of Accu-Trade, ready to ask the hard questions. We're gonna ask really hard questions in quick succession. We're going to try and trip him up. First. Who are you wearing? On your back right now? What's the coat? Who's who makes it?Brian Kramer: 0:22

Then yeah, it's a from Italy, I think but made in made in Asia,

Kyle Mountsier: 0:29

from Italy, made in Asia,

Brian Kramer: 0:30

perfect most of our cars,

Paul Daly: 0:31

How about the t shirt? Design and all that they

Brian Kramer: 0:35

Officially Accu-Trade It's actually milled. And we actually know just like everything else produce all this stuff in house. From the cotton on. All right, on our platform,

Kyle Mountsier: 0:46

on our integrated technology platform.

Brian Kramer: 0:49

3d printing everything.

Kyle Mountsier: 0:51

You showed us something last night, I don't know if we're even allowed to talk about it. But Accu-Trade and now part of the Cars.com family has worked with Dealer Inspire, to do something that I think will revolutionize the way that people buy cars in our industry. How much can you or can you not talk about the way you're gonna revolutionize that?

Brian Kramer: 1:13

What we're here so we might as well disrupt it. So

Paul Daly: 1:17

nice knowing ya.

Brian Kramer: 1:18

Virtual Buying Center, we've got a buying center and box we'll be releasing, we can actually show it to people that are here at the at the booth. But it's it says Kramer Automotive on it. But you know, tongue in cheek from everybody that created it. But it's absolutely fantastic. It's SEO enriched. It's, it's designed for one thing, it's not to sell cars just to acquire cars. So it's obviously you know, better than I do, it's going to Google's going to receive it a little bit differently than just, you know, something that does two different things. But it's designed to acquire cars, and it's designed to acquire them very efficiently with an inbound workflow.

Kyle Mountsier: 1:51

You know, that's it. Buying cars has been a theme of the last two years, like everybody's talking about how do we do it? When do we do it? How do we communicate with customers. And one of the things that's really important about it is building this brand around it. I love that they call it Kramer Automotive, because you have built a brand around the fact that buying cars is so important. And so for me, it's like okay, connecting the digital ecosystem to the person in the process, all that type of stuff. What are dealers doing right now on the ground that you see the most efficient car buying processes happening in our industry?

Brian Kramer: 2:23

Service Drive acquisition. I mean, I think the two biggest areas of opportunity are sight unseen appraisals, and service drive acquisition, you've already got them. You got internet leads, phone leads, chat leads asking what's my car worth, and we give them a range. And they know that's why there's 43% of the of the new car transaction in this country have trad-in, you know, it's not like there's only 43% People have a car, but there's adding to the fleet, or they got that much room in the driveway, and you just add more cars. They're going somewhere, and they're getting a second opinion. And if you don't give them the information, somebody else will.

Paul Daly: 2:53

Okay, we only have time for one more, because his rapid fire, you got one thing to say to the Dealer that doesn't believe what you just said is true. What are you going to say to them?

Brian Kramer: 3:03

I'll tell them to get on their website, and mystery shop themselves, submit a lead to sell their car and see what the CRM responses are. See what the templates say. And in many cases, they haven't changed in a decade or since they signed up for that CRM. So many times what I see is it will say Thanks, Brian, for your inquiry, and looking at a blank insert something field here. By the way, when can you bring in your FJ Cruiser for us to take a look at it? And I'll reply back, I can get you an exact or get get you an exact value. Well, you just gave me an exact value on your instant offer. And they'll say well, yeah, but we want to see it in person. And, you know, whatever is in between here and here, rather than just answering the question. So

Paul Daly: 3:43

what does the right what does the right response, in your opinion look like? When you submit that lead?

Brian Kramer: 3:48

They should respond back and well, the system already did it. So every provider including Accu-Trade gives everybody an instant offer pretty close to it. It's a matter of honoring it and and then establishing that transparency to promote trust. If if they don't trust us, and it's the response isn't sincere, authentic genuine, then they're gonna go get a second opinion or a third opinion somewhere else. I found we've got data to prove it that if you just get answered the question, they don't necessarily keep shopping you I think a lot of it is we instill that in consumers because we treat them like shoppers when they're trying to act like a buyer.

Kyle Mountsier: 4:21

Fast, easy, communicate, build trust rock'n'roll. I think that's a great way to end that. Mic drop as always rapid fire questions. Brian, thanks for joining us. Always a pleasure. Always a pleasure. Thank you for listening to In the Dirt with ASOTU. We love the automotive industry and the people who make it run day in and day out. We would love to connect with you more through our daily dose of fun, a free email that you can sign up for at ASOTU.com That's a s o tu.com. We put our heart and soul into it every day. Thanks again for listening. Join us next time for more Conversations In the Dirt with ASOTU.

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