Fixed Ops Roundtable - 2023 Orlando Pop-Up Panel
Sarah Vantine: 00:00
Welcome back to the Fixed Ops Roundtable. I’m Sarah Vantine here with Ted Ings. We are excited to be speaking with Owen Moon, one of the certified partners with Fixed Ops Digital.
Ted Ings & Owen Moon: 00:12
Owen, welcome back to the Fixed Ops Roundtable. Yeah, thanks for having me. Great event and congratulations to you and Fixed Ops Digital for all you do in our industry and on becoming a certified partner at the Fixed Ops Roundtable. Thank you. We’re pleasure. We’re excited to be here and excited to be a part of that. So, and one more, congratulations on your relationship in the company with Kaiser Automotive Group here with Shon Kingrey as well.
Owen Moon: 00:35
Yeah, you know, we, I’ve known Shon obviously for a few years and lucky enough now to be able to partner with them and help them with some of their online service marketing initiatives and had a really good chance to meet some of Shon’s team through this process. So, super excited. We’re kind of just kicking things off, but a lot of, a lot of big things to come for the Kaiser Automotive Group.
Ted Ings: 00:56
So, Owen, I know that you are a student of this business and you know, speaking of marketing, what would you say over the last 10 years has been some of the some of the biggest changes that you’re seeing as fixed operations continue to evolve at the dealership level?
Owen Moon: 01:14
It’s a great question. I think, I think one of the biggest changes that I’m seeing is the, is the evolution from customer retention and loyalty to more online initiatives, right? As more and more people are using smartphones and, and going online to find information, get educated, look for recommendations about different, maybe different services that they need for their vehicles, they’re turning to the internet, they’re turning to the dealerships website and so we have to become more of a resource for that. And so that’s, that’s a big change that I think that a lot of dealerships maybe haven’t been prepared for and are now seeing that it’s becoming more important than ever.
Shon Kingrey: 01:57
And again, my relationship with Owen’s gone back five or six years now when I was back in Florida and the online presence, it’s amazing with the website you would go to where we got called out and that’s where Owen helped us with is to make sure that your website coupons match what your OEMs putting out on your own website. You would literally have two different offers on the same website and not even realize it.
Ted Ings: 02:15
Yeah, Owen, your company does a great job in that fixed ops space. You are the leader. You really the only one in that space cuz you actually do fixed operations where other companies say they do, but you do that over the next 10 years. Owen, as you look forward into your crystal ball, what do you think is the biggest threat to dealerships? Fixed operations?
Owen Moon: 02:36
That’s a kind of a loaded question. I think, I think there are a lot of threats. I mean, I, I think it’s not just one, but I think if you’re if I’m a, a dealership, right? Looking at the 10-year idea of the 10-year roadmap, I’m thinking you’re people, people are becoming everything. As part of the process of working with Shon in his new group, I really saw Shon championed his people and really brought them in as part of the solution and part of, the answer for what we’re trying to accomplish. And I think that gives your employees, that gives you, your team ownership in, in what you’re doing and really holds them accountable for the results. But yeah, people are gonna be a big part of it, it’s always a big part, right? But even more so I think we’ve seen some of the struggles in the last few years of the dealerships that didn’t have a good team of people around them and what they’re able to accomplish. So I think, I think people are gonna be the big thing. Obviously embracing technology, there’s a lot going on with the OEMs and EVs and I think that’s gonna be a whole nother realm, but I think there’s a lot of different things that dealerships are gonna have to really focus on.
Shon Kingrey: 03:37
How Owen got back into the Kaiser group, it’s kind of a real quick story I was up at my Green Bay store, and my old Chrysler rep from a previous lifetime, 20 years ago is now in charge of marketing for Chrysler. And he and I are on the phone together and he’s quite frankly handing him my lunch about how bad our online marketing was. And he goes, I’m gonna recommend somebody. And I said, well if you say Owen Moon, I’m gonna laugh. And he goes, well, you know Owen, I said, I happen to know Owen. So I called my dealer principal and he goes, oh, you’re talking about fixed ops digital. Cuz he had met with them. We just, we weren’t, they just weren’t at that point a couple of years ago. And so what we did was Owen and I talked and then we signed the contracts and we move forward is having three major OEM lines as far as between eight stores is I took my leaders from the Chrysler store leader, from the Ford store leader from the d from the, the Chevy stores. And instead of competing with each other, cause I don’t want, a different price at one store to a different store, they take the lead all my Chevy stores are the same, but all my Chrysler stores are all the same and all my Ford stores are the same.
Ted Ings: 04:35
Moving forward, fixed operations, and digital marketing that’s here to stay.
Shon Kingrey: 04:39
It’s not going anywhere. I mean, people are looking online, people know when they come to buy a car online already, it’s no different on the fixed operations side. And to your point, that’s what Olin brings to the table. You’re right, a lot of people talk like they do it, but again, how do you have different coupons on the same website Owen focuses on, it’s what his people do. And you know, I’m not here just to plug Owen and Owen’s a phone call away, and I can tell you I’ve texted Owen at 11 o’clock at night and he’s never not responded.
Owen Moon: 05:03
Well. And we’re, we’re evolving it, it’s not just about your coupons and putting pricing out there, but it’s also about the experience that you’re providing to the customer. So, you know, we have some really great integrations with our platform, with repair financing companies. We’ve been talking with, you know, different companies about other ways that we can help integrate into that environment because when it comes down to it, it’s one customer that’s trying to do a lot of different things, right? Maybe they’re looking for a service that they want to get done, maybe they’re looking for a recall and they wanna make sure that their Carters have a recall. So do you have, you know, do you have some way to do check for recalls on your website and maybe even look at like trade appraisal, I mean, you know, from that point on and what’s a great way, you know, sh Shon, you know this, what’s a great way to, to get that used car into your, into your dealership? It’s, it’s to, you know, get it through the service lane, right? So trying to become more integrated throughout the entire process as opposed to just saying, Hey, here are some coupons, let’s get ’em on the website. That’s really our mission and we, we feel like, you know, we’re nowhere where we want to be, but we’re in a really good spot and we just keep, keep plugging forward and helping stores.
Ted Ings: 06:08
So Sarah, isn’t that amazing how this digital space continues to evolve and grow really that’s all part of the entire ecosystem at the dealership.
Sarah Vantine: 06:17
It definitely is. And, Owen is spot on with how this entire experience is a cohesive experience. You know, really having your marketing for all of your stores, as Shon mentioned, on point across your brands, that’s all gonna be key to the customer’s perception of if they wanna do business with you.
Ted Ings: 06:35
Anyway, congratulations to both Shon Kingrey and Owen Moon on working together with the organization’s fixed ops digital on becoming a certified partner for the fixed ops Roundtable. Owen, we look forward to a lot more of these with you and to expanding the fixed ops space. Thanks. I appreciate it, everybody. Owen Moon, fixed ops digital, the premier agency for fixed ops, and Shon Kingrey are with us here today at the third pop-up event at the fixed ops roundtable. Stay with us so we have a whole lot more coming up.
