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 Seasons Greetings |
In this issue... |
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We believe this latter point will offer great benefits to Motor Vehicle dealerships, groups, and OEM's/Franchises alike. I have put aside a separate space in this Ezette to better explain this last snippet of news and how the new relationship will benefit the motor dealer industry at large. One of our visions in liberating our services to the "world wide web" includes an initiative by us to embark upon an unprecedented first in the automotive market. We are excited to announce our intention to set about collecting and deploying live, accurate and up-to-the-minute benchmarks to the market. Please read the announcement by Jason Belzycki who explains this revolutionary thinking in more detail. Additionally, CDS has been very busy in preparing ourselves to support our dedicated efforts on product development and maintaining our equally impressive levels of service. By the time you are all refreshed from holidays (or at least a less stressful January period), we will have established a new division within our organisation which we have termed "field services". Until such a time as we decide there is a suitable ongoing requirement for full time interstate presence, we intend to run field services nationally out of Melbourne. |
CDS Website NEW ADDRESS!
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The naming convention
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| Setting New Standards For Benchmarking! |
by Jason Belzycki
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How ITKonline can further benefit your dealership? |
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For benchmarking to offer true benefit to your operation, it needs to satisfy the requirements of timeliness, accuracy, and relevance to your organisation. The benefits of benchmarking cannot be underestimated. Ongoing changes in the economic and operating environment such as fuel prices, interest rate rises and changes in government policy can all have reactive and impressionable effects on our industry, and inadvertently your bottom line. In comparing your trends to relevant industry benchmarks, you are able to keep a close eye on the performance of your own organisation to that of your peers and the trends as they unfold. This allows you to fine tune your organisation by dealing with the opportunities and hindrances as they present themselves. Complete Dealer Services is excited to announce a benchmarking program like no other. By becoming a member of the “ITKonline benchmarker” community, you will have direct and immediate access to the latest market observations with respect to “median” and “best practice” results for motor dealerships in Australia instantly. For those of you not already familiar with our latest offering, ITKonline incorporates all the impressive tools that we have successfully nurtured and deployed in ITK to deliver Management Reporting for Principals at Motor Dealerships. We have transformed the ITK product into a new, highly intuitive, multi user, interactive, online experience. In taking our “world wide web” experience to the next level, we intend to incorporate up-to-the-minute reflections of what the market is up to via the “ITKonline benchmarker” program. In determining benchmarks that are truly relevant to your organisation, each individual member of the ITKonline community is categorised according to a number of criteria including, but not limited to: • State As a user, your dealership can make choices as to whether you wish to compare results to the specifics above or a wider selection in each case. Eg. If Sample Motors was a High Volume, NSW Metropolitan dealership, they would have the following choices available to them.... • State - NSW or National (Select - National) In making the choices highlighted in brackets above, the system would immediately deliver composite values for both Median (the average result) and Benchmarks (top percentile) for dealers that are a part of the national space. These would not be restricted by dealership size, but are metropolitan dealerships specifically in the ITKonline space. It is also possible to alter the retrieved “Benchmark” to a value that is higher or lower than the default (top 25%) percentile, based upon your organisation's place in the automotive space, and what it should realistically should be attempting to strive for. Additionally, it is possible for us to deliver benchmarks for varying periods including Monthly, Average Quarterly, and Year to Date, so that you can choose which “benchmark” set makes sense to you. The system is fully automated and "live", hence delivering back to you up-to-minute benchmarks. This empowers you to compare your dealership to best-practice dealerships, regardless of size, location and franchise, and offer a truly relevant comparative base to work from. The interactive and timely nature of this initiative sets it apart from any existing offerings in the marketplace today. One of the true benefits is that for the first time, opinion is now separated from fact. The existing practice of industry specialists speculating and delivering benchmarks, will now be replaced with an unopinionated system delivering the numbers. The specialists and dealers alike, will now be analysing and reflecting on the numbers the benchmarker produces. When benchmarks are delivered to you in various forms at present, do you really know what the basis of these figures are? Our new benchmarking initiative is yet another great reason why your should consider ITKonline for all your Management Reporting needs. Check out all the ways that ITKonline can assist your organisation by reviewing our website at www.cdsonline.com.au. How much does it cost? After an initial investment into ITKonline, that is centred around the effort needed to get you up and running on the product and to produce management reports, a subscription fee then covers full access to the ITKonline environment on an ongoing basis (including ITKonline Benchmarking). Complete Dealer Services have made a deliberate effort to make it possible to offer the product to you for minimal investment and ongoing cost, whilst maximising the offering and return back to you. So what should you do next? Our existing ITKonline members need only to register their interest in the program via e-mail, and they will receive the benefits of the reporting program once we launch it (with a critical mass of members achieved) early in the new year. For the rest of you, we would like to hope that we have been seen to be one of the most approachable organisations, so we strongly suggest that you quell your curiosity and contact us! |
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Ph: 1300 765 237 |
What is your current experience when you try to compare your dealership against current market trends/benchmarks? Are the benchmarks out of date or perhaps not relevant to your dealership?
| A Powerful New Partnership |
by Ron Meyn
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Sewells Pty Ltd and Complete Dealer Services Pty Ltd are proud to announce their intention to combine forces to provide the Automotive Industry with the perfect balance of Training / Dealer Development Services and the latest technologies in Reporting methodologies. On an international scale, Sewells is primarily a consultancy that specialises in offering Training and Dealer Development Services within the Automotive Industry. Sewells enjoys a strong reputation worldwide with it's insights in the financial performances of dealers and the markets they trade in. In some areas of the world, Sewells additionally facilitates the data collection and supply of Market Intelligence to the dealer community, acting both on behalf of OEM's as well as interacting directly with dealerships and groups. Their "ESOS" reporting model is well respected in the automotive market worldwide and enjoys a membership of around the 1,000 mark. |
Kyle Dickie (Managing Director - Sewells Australia PTY LTD) Ron Meyn (Managing Director - CDS Pty Ltd).   |
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Rather than contemplating mirroring that technology in the local automotive space, Sewells approached us to see whether more could be gained via some sort of alliance. The result of this is that both of our organisations will focus on our own competencies within the local Automotive Industries, and the best of both businesses will be available to service the industry. In order to set the relationship in concrete, Sewells has secured a minority interest in the CDS business. This assures the relationship's continuity as well as offers a sound grounding for the combined efforts of both parties to flourish. What does this mean for the Australian Automotive community? The answer to that question is very specific - "As much as you will allow it to"! CDS aims to change nothing about its existing operations, which includes ongoing development and improvements, in offering Dealerships, Dealer Groups and OEM's the best tools and support to the market. And, Sewells will continue to make its mark on the local landscape for delivery of quality services to Motor Dealerships in its areas of specialisation. However, In the event that you take on services offered by both parties, you gain the benefit of the combined efforts of both. The latest technologies tuned to the latest advice. Sewells are highly conversant in our latest technologies and know how to squeeze maximum benefit from them. Similarly, we are adopting Sewells "best practices", developed and nurtured from its extensive experience, into the ITKonline reporting model to bring an exciting new level of intelligence to a screen near you! The result is that the best of both of our practices are being entwined into something much greater than could have been achieved separately. Hand in hand, Sewells and CDS will set about identifying where each others talents can be "wheeled" into your organisation to streamline and maximise your profit opportunities. And, in direct line with each others skill sets, each party will set about finding the most prudent way to assist your organisation in achieving new heights in performance and profitability. Additionally, we both value the integrity of our relationship with you, our customer. As such, no data or information will be exchanged between our organisations unless you authorise it to be the case. By example, you will note that Jason Belzycki has offered an article recently on a new "benchmarking" program that we are embarking on. Your inclusion into that membership will allow you access to the most up to date and relevant benchmarking details possible. The process is a "black box" to you as well as it is to Sewells. Whilst you will be able to compare your results to "market trends", you will not have access to any other individual's details. Similarly, Sewells will contribute many data sets to the "black box" through it's performance group and OEM efforts, and will equally benefit from the Market Intelligence the "benchmarking" engine will deliver, without any “unauthorised” knowledge of any individual results. If Sewells is a name that is new to you, I strongly urge you to visit their website at www.sewells.com.au, and please, feel free to ask us about any more you want to know. CDS and Sewells would be more than happy to meet with you at any time to discuss the many ways we can be of service to your organisation. We look forward to collectively offering the most relevant and prudent solutions to your performance enhancing needs through reporting supported by training and development. |
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Telephone: National Service Centre 1300 765 237, Melbourne + 613 9574 7500.
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There is no doubt that an on-line presence has become an integral component of the car dealer's advertising strategy. Such has been the acceptance and success of the on-line advertising market for car dealers, that most of the leading websites can now boast a database consisting of 10's or even 100's of thousands of vehicles! With this in mind, have you ever stopped to think about how your car can be made to stand out from the crowd? We have, and through over 7 years experience as a leading data provider, CDS has created the ideal set of tools to help you make the most of your on-line advertising dollar.
