In a market where Toyota dealers often ask for more allocation, one store’s team fostered better relationships with other dealers to help boost inventory.
The dealership in Bellingham, Washington, sells Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and Sprinter for a few more weeks. After that, a new Benz building will open next door.
Richard Brunell, now general sales manager for both, will stay on the Toyota side when that happens. Despite the brand’s inventory restraints, Brunell’s team exceeded its January sales objective by 114%.
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Driving the news: Brunell said his team, especially new-car sales manager Devin Davolio, helped the group secure that win.
“I think we pulled an extra 14 units, which made the difference between us hitting our objective, let alone going over it with the inventory shortages that exist,” Brunell told Daily Dealer Live host Sam D’Arc.
For context: Brunell said he often had adversarial relationships with other dealers when he worked in domestics.
He said the good relationships he’s built the past few years allowed Davolio to call around and secure extra units in January.
“It's still tough,” Brunell said. “Nobody wants to give them up, but we look for the inventory that was sitting on the lot that the dealers were not moving.”
How it works: Building and maintaining relationships is easy, Brunell said — just use a little bribery.
He was kidding, kind of: See, once a year (Brunell suggests Christmastime), they go raid Costco for all the chocolate baskets they can find.
Then those baskets get delivered store-to-store, starting about 150 miles away, near Olympia, Washington.
“We stop at as many of these stores that we have relationships with as possible, to let them know that we value those relationships,” Brunell said.
Not an instant hit: Brunell, who did the most-recent deliveries with Davolio, said the stops took time to catch on. “The first year, everybody thought we were coming in like we’re a vendor,” Brunell said. “They didn’t really understand what was going on.”
By year two, Brunell said people were welcoming, and now, it’s a hit.
The guys talked to people they hadn't met and made new connections during the latest deliveries.
Brunell acknowledged that they aren’t alone in playing nice in the Portland region. “They [other dealers, sales managers, etc.] all get along with love, and it is unique, and we don't take it for granted whatsoever,” Brunell said.
Worth noting: Anyone who has worked in the service industry knows someone who probably should have spent time working in the service industry.
Brunell credits six years of experience at Outback Steakhouse with teaching him a level of hospitality that is “kind of unmatched.”
That experience translates well in auto retail.
And it still influences how he interacts with folks today, he said, including actions such as opening doors for people, speaking to customers at eye level and mastering cadence and timing when communicating.
Bottom line: Brunell and his team have shown that inventory ceilings aren’t always set by a factory. There’s a human element, and it matters.
“The dealer partnerships are what allow us to accommodate our customers,” Brunell said. “If we're treating each other well, we're able to accommodate more customers.”
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