Simulcast was smoking. I want to thank all the dealers that were in our simulcast sale whether you participated or not. There were a total of 720 dealers logged into our lane Friday at the 17545, lane 22. This represents a new one day record if I am not mistaken. The simulcast action was stellar and I feel good about the results. We didn’t make any money, but I feel certain we made friends. In many cases I sold cars that I would buy again today for more than I sold them for. A buyer that gives me the respect of logging on my lanes and bidding on cars will find that if we are within spitting distance of what I need to sell, he’s going to buy a car.
Sounds stupid, right? Probably is, but I am all about not wasting a guy’s time. It’s Pavlovian. Positive reinforcement that causes behavior modification. Come back and do it again. If that costs me money by selling units below market value so a cat is willing to return and do it again, I’m in. Sooner or later I’ll get you back (in this market you can rest assured it will be later, much later, like old age type later).
We sold at over double the conversion rate of the general auction, right up next to 90%, average price $23,000. Peter Pan can sell twenty $6,000 units, but line up a few hundred $25,000 units and see if the results are 95% sold. It can only be done with a buyer base that has trust in the seller. It’s simple. Nothing to talk about.
Why are our lanes packed when the auction looks like a bowling alley in general? Pavlov. Why do dealers bid on our cars on simulcast? Pavlov. Availability, trust and a positive outcome. I hate to make this seem scientific, but it half way is. If I make you guys pay more than a car is worth every time I sell, would you come back? If I no-saled every unit until you paid brain-death money and you found out you bought shine-ola, would you come back? If I didn’t have a run of cars that makes Barrett Jackson look like kindergarten 52 weeks a year, would you come back? If I didn’t take a car back because you bid on something that you made an honest mistake on, would you be willing to buy on simulcast with no condition report like happened yesterday in a few hundred cases?
This trust is built on decades of sliding into second base knowing you will come up with a strawberry the size of a dinner plate. It don’t come from smiling and giggling at the restaurant over a beer. It comes from the relief you feel when you call with a “I could get fired over this problem” situation and I get you right. Years of this will cause hundreds of unique users logging on to our lane and banging on the enter button to be their source of next month’s bonus.
That don’t mean I am telling you to buy like Curley from the Three Stooges and figure all ills are covered by a magic wand and your actions aren’t connected to consequences. Be a Pro and I’ll be a Pro. The outcome will be what happened yesterday…they all get sold for what they are worth, under the hammer, and nobody wastes their time. The dust settles and we can all say they felt good about spending their day doing business in lane 22 at the 17545.
The statistics for the day show that we sold a clean 16% of all units transacted yesterday and 23% of all dealer cars. I couldn’t do it without your trust. So all the guys in Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Washington State, Colorado, and the other 37 states and countries that participated, thank you.
Sell Well