Dealership-News-DealerPay-The-Full-Interview.mp4 transcript powered by Sonix—the best video to text transcription service
Dealership-News-DealerPay-The-Full-Interview.mp4 was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the latest audio-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors. Sonix
Julie Douglas with Dealer Pay was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the latest audio-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors. Sonix is the best way to convert your video to text in 2019.
Kelly Kleinman:
Hello, this is Kelly Kleinman, and you are listening to the DealershipNews.com podcast, where we spotlight the Who’s happening in the automotive industry. It’s footsoldiers, Visionaries, Salesman, GMs, Owners, Service Managers and Industry Vendors alike. Today’s podcast is brought to you by Marketing Solutions St. Louis. That’s Marketing Solutions STL specializing in YouTube video marketing and very few do that. They’re proven winning formula is designed to generate new leads, increase profit margins and lower acquisition costs by combining digital marketing, video and social media. Common man Betty Naser at 3 1 4 8 7 9 4 0 4 9 tell’em Kelly sent ya, DealershipNews.com. And oh, by the way, today we have one of my favorites Julie Douglas. Julie. She’s our default when it comes to all things regarding payment solutions and the automotive retail sector. And that also includes data security to a large extent since so much money is transacted in dealerships. Julie Douglas of Dealer Pay, welcome back.
Julie Douglas:
Thank you. Thanks for having me, Kelly..
Kelly Kleinman:
Well, it’s great to have you on this Friday. We have the weekend right ahead of us. It’s looming large. Yes. Let’s get into it now. You initiated a campaign this fall to make sure dealers check a few boxes concerning security, compliance, rate fee reviews and security, a solid partner and technology provider.
Kelly Kleinman:
How are dealers that don’t address these topics exposed? Because this is some crucial stuff.
Julie Douglas:
Sure. So the three components that you mentioned, the first obviously being security and compliance. Obviously, we’re transacting a lot of data. A lot of dealers really don’t know their exposure with some of the hardware and or software they’re using and the providers they use probably don’t say, hey, pay attention. This is important.
Julie Douglas:
So I always asked my dealers to just really pay attention to what’s happening in their dealership. Everything from user practices, best practices, but also to provide hardware and software. Obviously, we don’t want these guys storing any payment data, but even more than that, with the holidays coming up and just all the fraud exposure. They just really need to make sure that they have the latest and greatest with respect to PCI compliance.
Julie Douglas:
So with with that first box, you know, that’s that’s what the Dealer Pay does. We really try to keep our dealers on top of that.
Kelly Kleinman:
You know, I was just exposed, so to speak. So this is coming at a really good time, literally yesterday. Somebody tried to get into my Google account, which was problematic. So I had to change all my passwords.
Kelly Kleinman:
It’s all it’s it’s a real danger.
Julie Douglas:
Immense security and data security that kind of in the same space. But there’s a lot more risk with payment data security and, you know, fines and whatnot with a breach or just out of this world. So, you know, if the dealerships are listening, just just make sure that you’ve got, you know, all your your I’s dotted and T’s crossed.
Kelly Kleinman:
I appreciate that advice. Now, why is it important to review rates and fees regularly, specifically at this time?
Julie Douglas:
Sure. So, you know, I mentioned previously we’re going into the holidays, but we’re also in fourth quarter.
Julie Douglas:
So dealers really want to make sure they’re going to finish this year strong, but also start next year. You know, just out of the gate, a lot of processors, even banks. I ran into one yesterday. You know, they they do a lot of things to get the business, lower rates, et cetera. But then they like to hike them up along the way. That’s one of the things that I’ve done for now 20 years is I just don’t do that. I don’t raise rates. But most most I would say very few that don’t raise the rates. And the statements are so difficult to read. And the dealers don’t really pay attention because it’s incurring monthly fees that they just assume is what the rep promised them. It’s not in most cases. I reviewed a dealership about two years ago and they had a really aggressive rate. And she I called her up and she said, you know, you already looked at this. I said, well, do you mind if I look at it again? And her rates were probably one hundred and twenty percent higher from the last time I reviewed it.
Kelly Kleinman:
Looking that cost the dealership over the course of a year or so, just a month.
Julie Douglas:
Well, I reviewed one yesterday. It was a four location using their bank, which they thought was their, you know, trusted provider. And let’s just say over four stores that have pretty aggressive volume, I’m I’m able to save them almost $80,000 a year.
Kelly Kleinman:
That’s unbelievable. You know, it’s kind of like price gouging for water after a natural disaster. I would think the dealerships wouldn’t be too cool with those kinds of practices. I know the consumers get crazy with it, although we’ve been gouged forever. Right.
Julie Douglas:
Right. And that’s that’s why Dealer Pay. We’re an advocate for the dealer. We want to be fair. We want to be transparent. But I have no interest in trying to raise rates to increase my margins. I’d rather just keep the relationship for the long term.
Kelly Kleinman:
Sure, it might make sense, you know, but we we talked about security rates and fees. Why should dealers secure a strong vendor in overall payment solution going into 2020? But beyond that, what are some of the things that dealer needs to be watchful of with their current partners? Aside from what we just discussed, which was the gouging and some other nefarious practices that might be taking place.
Julie Douglas:
Sure. So technology is advancing quite a bit. And, you know, unfortunately, dealers have always kind of been on the low end of those advances, specifically with payments. So a lot of providers out there are trying to enhance certain features and functions and the dealership, but none of those are really quote unquote, dealers specific. So when I say, you know, make sure you’ve got a solid provider, you know, obviously make sure your security is on point. Make sure your rates and fees are where they need to be. But make sure you got someone to call. Make sure you got someone that, you know, looking after your transactions. That’s making sure your users are fully trained and that you’re getting all the necessary reporting. One of the big things we push is streamlining operation. So that they can focus on the customer. We want their customer to have a fabulous payment experience, which is going to increase CSI and customer retention overall. So, you know, if you don’t have a solid provider going into next year, you might be scrambling to get one, you know, in January, February.
Kelly Kleinman:
Let’s talk about 2020. What? What? You know what? Let me, let me backtrack as we’ve had you on before. You provide a great solution. By the way, this is not a sponsored promotional piece of content here. It’s what would you from the competitive field? We’re talking. I mean. Well, I’ll tell you what, I gather out of this and that’s a service. You know, it seems like you’re there 24/7. It seems like you’re well, you’re definitely not gouging. You’re you’re not too greedy. You’re not a big not a big player. And I think that that’s at some point when you get somebody, a smaller vendor that cares and treats all of their their clients with tender loving care, I think that’s a lot more important about what does separate you from I’ll let you blow your own horn.
Julie Douglas:
So I’m not a bank. OK. So I don’t service thousands of industries. I don’t care about, you know, making sure I bill you for every single field that there is.
Julie Douglas:
I’m not a processor, so I don’t have, you know, the quota or, you know, the certain margin requirements that certain salespeople do that work for direct processors. I’m what they call an independent sales organization that has the ability to customize my payment solutions specifically for dealers. And one of the things that I’ve done on my own in the past five years is I’ve built my own dealers specific point of sale system. So we capture things like our own number. We make sure we know who the customer is on every transaction, what user processed it, we assist finance with tools that help them, you know, get that down payment faster before the customers out the door. So when you say how am I different, really the best thing I can say is I’m an advocate for the dealer and I really care about the solutions we provide them and I’m constantly trying to improve them.
Kelly Kleinman:
2020. It’s right around the corner. What do you have in store for us?
Julie Douglas:
Technology. Technology. So, you know, usually about 50% of my dealers get scared when I mentioned that T-word. But the other 50% are excited to see how that will help them. Technology is one thing where, if implemented correctly, can actually help a user’s efficiency when processing these payments. So 2020, we’ve got a lot of things on the deck, like rewards and loyalty programs, communications programs with text and email, the ability to just really step outside the box with concierge’s style payment acceptance. You know, a lot of dealers have comps that they’re trying to, you know, one up on. We’re giving them tools to really streamline and capture payments as fast as possible. Our backend providers are constantly changing because we only work with the best Dealer Pay has, you know, a front end platform that’s strong. But we also have several providers on the back end that have to sort of keep up, if you will, that we’re really ramping up our development and we’re really ramping up some of the fun features can give you example. Yeah. OK. So one of my dealers asked me, he said, you know how sometimes you go to the pet store, the grocery store, and you can kind of round up your transaction amount to the next dollar and they’ll donate that to charity. I say, yeah, yeah. Oh, is it? You know, the next Burbach or whatever. I’m going to actually implement that and my solutions as well as a way for the dealership to capture that extra change and donate to a charity of their choice. So what we’re doing that kind of stuff. I hate the word stuff. We’re doing those things to really show that we want to be different. We want to be, you know, an advocate for the features that they request.
Kelly Kleinman:
Listen, I appreciate you coming out here and giving us lowdown on what’s going on over a Dealer Pay and 2020. Looks like it’s going to be really great for you. Well, I wish you all the luck moving forward. And I’m sure we’ll see a down the road here soon.
Julie Douglas:
Sure. Absolutely. I appreciate it, Kelly.
Kelly Kleinman:
You bet. Have a great weekend, folks. Kelly.. Kleinman over here, DealershipNews.com. That’s our podcast for Friday. Have a great weekend.
Julie Douglas:
Thank you.
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