Connected Podcast Episode 209: Best Practices from the 2026 Automotive Amplifiers

Hi, I'm Greg Uland with Reynolds and Reynolds and  this is Connected. Today I'm really excited. Just  

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two weeks ago, we had the Automotive Amplifiers  contest at Amplify 2026 out in Carlsbad,  

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California. And today we're going to share  two winners from the contest. We had five  

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finalists join us out in Carlsbad and they all  presented their innovative best practice and  

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their ideas on stage in front of the entire  crowd at Amplify. They all did a great job,  

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but our panel of judges consisting of Uli de  Martino, Michael Cirillo, and Chris Ponte selected  

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two winners from the five finalists. And today  I get to share those two presentations with you.  

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So the first winner that we're going to share  is Randy Carlton. Randy won our impact award  

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at Amplify as part of the Amplifiers contest.  Randy's a general manager at Volvo Cars Bellevue,  

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which is a part of the Swickard Automotive Group.  And his best practice was introducing videos into  

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the sales process to really build trust and engage  leads right away. And I think most importantly,  

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you'll find towards the end of this in the Q&A  uh was how he implemented this and how he got  

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his team to implement it fully. So take a look at  this presentation. I think Randy did a great job.  

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So, first off, I want to thank you all for uh  taking time to watch my presentation. Um I wanted  

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to share something that's worked really really  well for Volvo Cars Bellevue. Um initially we had  

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um our our issue was is I I built a great website.  We had the highest converting website in the in  

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our whole auto group. Uh but we weren't converting  those as a high a rate as we liked. We were  

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converting those uh our website lead conversion  was low. And so what we found was is is that  

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um we needed to to to find a way to get more  people in the door. So what we what we implemented  

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was is we went ahead and um added video into  our lead process. And so it really addresses  

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the the the hardest part about uh getting a fresh  lead. The hardest part about getting a fresh lead  

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is getting the customer to respond back to you,  getting engagement. That is the hardest part.  

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And so what video's done for us is has allowed  us the chance to get those customers to to  

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engage. So real quick, I just want to show  a couple examples of what we do. Alex here  

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at Volvo Cars Bellevue. Just wanted to send  you a quick video confirmation for today at  

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noon for a test drive on this beautiful Chevrolet  Tahoe 2023. If you want to reschedule or cancel,  

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please give me a heads up. Otherwise, the  car is going to be ready right in front of  

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the dealership. When you pull up, I'm going to be  standing right here waiting for you. And again,  

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my name is Alex. I'm excited to see  you all and I'll see you soon. Bye-bye.

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Good morning, Vince here from Volvo Cars  Bellevue. I just wanted to send you a  

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quick video of this awesome Volvo EX30 Cross  Country that you inquired about. As you can see,  

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it is on site. These are excellent  vehicles. I love them. Remind me of  

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the Jetsons. Come on in. Take one for a  spin and take advantage of the excellent  

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offer we have on these currently. Feel free to  reach out to me by call or text at 253-2598158

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and let us know how we can earn your  business here at Volvo Cars Bellevue.  

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So, as you can see, versus just your standard text  or lead, you know, response, if we send a video,  

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it just creates a lot better connection. I heard  a lot of laughs and a lot of you can build if you  

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can get somebody smiling, you can you can you  can uh you move along the uh sales process a  

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lot faster for us. It builds trust. It allows the  customer to see the car, see their salesperson,  

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and and it builds familiarity with that  salesperson long before they ever step in the  

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showroom. So they they tend to negotiate online  less, and they also tend to come in and show  

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for their appointment a lot more. It creates a  personal connection. So when you send that video,  

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the people, they don't know have to guess  who they're going to see when they come  

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into to to to the store. They don't have  to Yeah. they know who Alex is. They say,  

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"Oh, there's I'm here to see Alex. It looks  like he's standing right over there." Um,  

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so it it helps create a real connection with  each guest before they come in. It, as I said,  

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it increases engagement. We found about a 300%  lift in our responses. Um, it helps you stand out.  

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Most stores don't do this, and so most dealerships  don't create those personal connections. They send  

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the standard responses. They get the standard  replies. This really helps you stand out. It  

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it it it creates a huge difference between you and  your competition. It also um makes it so the guest  

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feels special. It speeds up the sales process.  As I said, if they build that tight trust and  

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that and that and that connection with their  salesperson, they tend to negotiate less. We  

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did we have a lot less distrust and so it speeds  up the process and they tend to our verbatims we  

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get back. Um they mention the videos a lot. So  the other the other impact is is we've uh been  

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able to increase so we had around a 50% lead to  appointment ratio. We've gotten up to 70 to 80%  

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depending you know month over month. Uh we also  our CSI scores when I took the store over uh we  

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were 281st out of 283 Volvo stores and CSI and SSI  we're now 41st. So, um, it's made a huge impact on  

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on the guest experience and and on how they feel  about purchasing a car Volvo Cars Bellevue. And  

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other than that, that's it. That's uh that's  what I got. Thank you all. And uh, [applause]

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hi Randy. I think this is super impactful. I'm  gonna ask I have a few questions, but I'll try  

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to stay in the ones that I think could benefit the  people most in this room. So, as far as execution  

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and accountability, what are you doing to ensure  that this gets delivered every single time? How  

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are you holding your staff accountable? You know,  you know, it's a great question. I I I it's one of  

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the things I love about Focus and we use it in our  CRM and we're able to go in and pull a daily, even  

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hourly report to make sure that these things are  being done. We can watch those videos. I pulled  

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those straight out of focus and um we're able to  to to monitor those really in real time. So, my  

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sales managers watch those. They watch those leads  as they flow through. Um, so how do I how do we we  

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uh how do we get people to do it? Well, I tie  spiffs and I feed everybody. So like tech videos,  

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I do a fixed ops Friday where if tech videos  are over 80%, I buy them lunch. I buy all the  

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fixed ops guys lunch. Um, so uh there's just just  motivate them, keep it positive, let them know the  

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why. That's the other thing. I really sell the  why to the team on why they need to do this and  

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and show them how it benefits their their paycheck  as well. not just free lunch. So if I understand  

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correctly, this this is now a mandatory behavior  that you're expecting to see from them. It's part  

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of our process. Yes. Okay. In a similar vein, how  do you help them overcome I mean incentives are  

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great. When you have a face for radio, right,  and you're you're aware of that. Um how do you  

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help convince them to adopt this behavior? How do  you deal with the push back? lead by example. Um,  

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so I I I shoot a lot of video with them. Uh, the  other thing I do is is we go out and and practice.  

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We we do talk about best practice and and not  everybody's comfortable doing the same things,  

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but we the managers and I we work with them to to  overcome that. We even support them. Uh, one guy  

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wanted a gyroscoping like, you know, video deal.  So, we we went ahead and got, you know, we uh I  

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put a spiff out there for him and he earned it.  And, uh, so, uh, just just, you know, keep pumped  

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up about it. Be positive. Not not a must-have,  but this is a must to do business in the 21st  

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century. Now, quick followup. Any push back on  the use of personal devices and that these videos  

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are killing their phone storage or anything like  that? No, we we reimburse the salespeople for the  

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the data. You noticed an increase in leads showing  up. Has it increased in sales? Which are you able  

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to measure that? Yeah. So, so it helps and it it  helps to isolate where to where to train because  

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once we get the lead to appointment and and then  appointment shown and then it's shown sold and  

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and and we work on that through the process and  this it's one of those things that's helped us  

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uh increase. Yeah. So, our our closing percentages  have gone up as well. Thank you. [applause]

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Randy did such a great job both presenting but  also in his best practice and being able to get it  

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implemented in his store. I appreciate him sharing  how he was able to do that and get buyin from his  

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sales team. Congratulations, Randy, on on a great  job and a great idea uh for winning. Randy did  

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receive uh a trophy that hopefully he's displaying  proudly in his store. Uh and also a donation to  

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the charity of his choice. So Randy donated $5,000  to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.  

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So, thanks so much, Randy, for uh for joining  us and for for your presentation and congrats  

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again on your win. Our second winner is Chris  Lasko. Chris won our innovation award. Chris is  

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a general sales manager at BMW of Pittsburgh.  Interestingly, Chris joined us in 2025 as well  

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as a finalist at Amplify and this year was one of  our winners. Uh his best practices around creating  

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a remote finance department in the dealership.  Pretty interesting concept going 100% remote.  

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Uh so take a listen to this one and uh also make  sure to stay for the Q&A at the end. I think there  

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was some great insights unveiled there. Uh here  it is. Uh good morning everybody. Uh first off,  

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I want to make sure I thank Reynolds for  this opportunity and thank my team for  

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uh doing all the things that that makes these  possible. My name is Chris Lasko and I'm from BMW  

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and Mini of Pittsburgh where we've been operating  with 100% remote finance since November of 2023.  

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Now, I'm not here to suggest that remote finance  is the right move for every store. Every store is  

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different. Every market's different. I just like  to share some of the things we discovered. The  

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reason we tried it, interestingly, it wasn't  some grand initiative. We weren't trying to  

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reinvent finance or eliminate our finance team.  Like many dealerships, at the end of the month,  

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we find ourselves with more deals than our finance  team could comfortably handle. So, we partnered  

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with a remote financed company to help excuse me,  help handle the overflow. As we watched it work,  

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it became obvious remote finance fit the way  our dealership already operated. Our many of  

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our customers aren't making some impulse purchase  on the showroom floor. [snorts] As we looked at  

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the process, we realized we'd already separated  so much of it. When you come into the store,  

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you've already decided on the car. You've done  your shopping online. Negotiation is happening  

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over the phone and delivery is already scheduled.  So why are we tying finance to that delivery  

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appointment? Does it really have to be? Turns  out it doesn't. So how the process works? Once  

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the deal is submitted to our remote finance team,  the finance team reaches out to our customer, asks  

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some confirming questions to make sure we have all  our eyes dotted and tees crossed, schedules a Zoom  

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uh Zoom appointment with the customer at  their a time that fits their schedule. Now,  

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it's during this Zoom appointment that customers  complete the finance presentation and signs  

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electronically through Reynolds ESO that allows  the delivery to focus on what it should be about,  

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the delivery of the vehicle to the customer,  and that celebration. So, if they should happen  

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to decide to purchase a vehicle while they're in  the store, we have a dedicated Zoom office set up  

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for them so every customer receives the exact same  experience every single time in store or remotely.  

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One thing we've learned it, one thing we've  learned is that remote finance is only part of the  

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uh process that makes it valuable. The fact that  the process now becomes very predictable. You know  

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where the deal stands. You know who owns the next  step and everyone's on the same page is what the  

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customer has been told. One of the things that  surprised us now I assumed we'd have no problem  

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with our young techsavvy customers. Figured  they'd love it and they did. But was really  

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stunning was the number of seniors, 70 and 80  year olds who love to eat just as much. They like  

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sitting around their kitchen table. They like  sitting talking with their spouse, not feeling  

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rushed to make decisions. It reminded us not to  make assumptions because convenience doesn't seem  

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to be generational. Um, if the process is simple,  clearly explained, and comfortable, customers of  

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every age appreciate it. Something else we didn't  expect was the role of our finance coordinator.  

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So the finance coordinator, their responsibility  is simple. They're looking for missing signatures,  

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incomplete paperwork, or anything that could  create problems later because that's their  

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primary focus. The quality of our paperwork  has improved dramatically. It's truly rare  

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that a deal was pushed back from finance  now because it's missing something or it's  

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incomplete. [snorts] And I know that doesn't  show up on a financial statement anywhere,  

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but anybody that's run a dealership knows how much  time and aggravation that saves. Now, speaking of  

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financial, speaking of financial statements, what  happened to our backend? Looking at our results,  

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we saw improvements across the board. Backend  gross per vehicle increased $452. Product gross  

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per unit more than doubled from 601 to 1264. The  number of deals with at least a product went up  

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almost 20%. And uh products per deal went from  1 to 1 almost 1.6. And we saw those gains across  

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both brands, BMW and Mini and new and used.  So it was very consistent. So looking back,  

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it's kind of funny because we never really started  to become a 100% remote finance dealership. We  

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just just tried something that solved a temporary  operational need, but over time it over time we  

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realized it wasn't just helping during busy weeks.  It was making every week better. So, if another  

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dealer were to ask where to start, I probably  wouldn't start talking about Zoom or Reynolds  

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e sign. I'd start with communication. Make sure  you define every handoff. Set expectations early.  

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Make sure everyone knows what happens next  because once the process becomes consistent,  

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the technology is just the easy part. And  so, we didn't set out to reinvent the finance  

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department. We just wanted to move it to a time  that fit better for everyone. Thanks, [applause]

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Thanks, Chris. This is very interesting. I'm  hearing about this more and more, but what  

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is your percentage of deals that end up leaving  the showroom to complete the transaction after?  

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Because I would I would think that it would be a  lower amount, but based off what you're saying,  

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it sounds like quite a few people take advantage  of going home and going through the process.  

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It's it's truly at the customer's discretion.  Um, but it's we can really focus on what is going  

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to make it a better experience for the customer.  Does it make sense to hold that person, you know,  

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because we're so nervous about letting them  walk out of the dealership that we're going  

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to hold them there for 4 hours? What kind of  impression does that leave on on the operation  

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you're running? Uh why not send them home? Let  them do it at home and come back when everybody's  

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prepared and it's a fantastic experience instead.  Like we know the best way to do it. Why don't we  

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just try to? So, Chris, is this something that  you're offering as part of the sales process so  

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that they're aware that they can do this or is it  is it held in reserve like they're you you you're  

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picking up on their social cues that they don't  want to be here anymore and you go, "Oh, hey,  

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by the way, you could do this at home." No. If  if I look at the majority of our transactions,  

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it's an initial it's an initial interaction  and then the close happens after that fact.  

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the customer is leaving has has a tendency to  leave anyways or the transaction has already  

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been made before the customer has ever shown up.  Between those two, we really don't run into that  

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many split decisions on the phone on the floor.  So, how did you find these finance managers? You  

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mentioned using a group that already had these  people available or did you get them on your own  

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team? Uh, we discovered them at an event like  this where we were happen to network into them.  

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Um, and it's fantastic because they've separated  their process, separates it so that everybody can  

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specialize as well. They have underwriters that  take care of their side of the paperwork. Their  

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finance managers sit around at the pool until  it's their time to come in, get on their call,  

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do what they do, and go back to the pool. So,  you're allowed, you're able to compensate them  

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a little differently because you improve their  quality of life. How about your sales staff?  

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Because I mean you hit the nail on the head  with that fear of letting the customer leave.  

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How did they adopt this and feel at ease knowing  that their customer was going to go home without  

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signing a contract? Just doing it ju you know just  repetitioned. It's uh yeah they got comfortable  

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with it. It was initially initially the whole  problem was communication. It wasn't any of  

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the tools any of the processes. It was just how  how can we please the piece you miss is when the  

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customer isn't there and you can't see what's  happening to them. freaks everybody out. Uh,  

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so this instead allows them once once we  close that, so they felt comfortable that,  

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oh, this person's talking to him right now. He's  be on the Zoom call at 7:00 p.m. I'll see him  

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at 8. Very manageable. How are you handling the  accountability that those remote individuals are  

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remaining compliant with what you want to to have  happen? Who Who's watching that? Is that something  

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that falls on your shoulders? No, it's a it I  don't have that big of a challenge with it to be  

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honest. Uh, everyone has bought into it, so I'm  not running around making sure. Uh, it's become  

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such a great process that everyone just does  it because it's the easiest way to go. Uh, so I  

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don't find that I have to walk around with a stick  all that often. Thank you. Thank you. [applause]

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Congratulations to Chris Lasko on his win at the  amplifiers contest. Great idea. generated a ton  

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of questions both from the judges but also after  the event. A lot of people came up to Chris were  

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asking how he implemented this, how he convinced  everybody to move forward with it and also the  

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results that he's seen. So clearly a lot of  interest here. Uh congrats again on your win,  

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Chris. Uh the charity that Chris chose to give  to is the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music  

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Hall. Uh so Chris, great job again and it  was great to have you. Before we hop off,  

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don't forget you can watch or listen to  all episodes of Connected on YouTube,  

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Apple, and Spotify podcasts. and make  sure to hit subscribe so you're notified  

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every other week when new episodes released.  Thanks so much. We'll see you in two weeks.