When Roy Davila joined Steele Auto Group as Variable Operations Director a few months ago, he walked into the same problem most dealer groups face: sales teams inconsistently sending customer videos despite pressure from leadership.
Davila's approach: make it non-negotiable for managers, and competitive for salespeople.
Driving the news: Every appointment set at Steele now triggers two manager videos. The first video goes out within 30 minutes where the manager introduces themselves and confirms the appointment. The second video happens after the appointment, with the manager either thanking the customer for coming in or asking why they missed the appointment.
"You're seeing that the stores that are doing it consistently, you're seeing a significant increase in not only set but the shown ratios,” Davila told Daily Dealer Live hosts Sam D'Arc and Uli de' Martino.
Yes but, Davila still needed salespeople creating content during the sales process.
His solution was test drive karaoke.
How it works: Salespeople film themselves and customers singing during test drives, and whoever sends the most videos wins $100.
All they have to do is connect the customer's phone to CarPlay or Android Auto, get their music playing, and hit record.
The contests get salespeople comfortable on camera and generate content that customers share.
"That's the plan,” Davila explained. “Organic content for the stores themselves so that we can put it out there. And then of course, getting the guests themselves to share it.”
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The bigger picture: Davila's approach to video sits inside a broader operational framework he calls "control your controllables."
Despite market changes, fluctuating interest rates, and inventory shifts, what dealerships can control is the customer experience.
So, he focuses on three elements: transparency, convenience, and making it fun.
"Can we give them the feeling of transparency? Can we make them feel like we're not taken advantage of? We're very upfront. We're very open. We give them honest and we deal with integrity. We give them real numbers, real values," Davila said. "And then secondly, can I make it easy? Can I make it a convenient experience? And then the last part is that word experience. Can I make it something that's fun?"
Four times a day, managers also check in on KPIs, including calls, texts, emails, social media posts, videos, and appointments, preventing teams from getting lost in the day-to-day chaos.
Managers know exactly where they stand on activities throughout the day instead of scrambling at the end of the shift.
Bottom line: Dealers know video improves show rates, but the constraint is execution. Davila's system works because managers have to send two videos per appointment while salespeople compete to create the most content. One creates accountability, the other creates culture.
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