Service 03
Dealership and retail sales operations
Cane owns two independent dealerships in Ohio. This service is the work he does in his own stores every week, done in yours: what you stock, what you price it at, what happens when someone walks onto the location, and what happens in the box.
Why he can speak to this
He runs Exodus Auto Exchange LLC in Canton and Expert Auto Exchange LLC in Cleveland. He bought the units, set the prices, wrote the pay plans, and has fired people for skipping the process he is about to teach your floor.
Those two stores are also the reason he will tell you if you are inside his market radius. He does not consult for stores he competes with.
Who this is for
- Independent stores of one to five rooftops.
- Franchise stores with a used side that does not turn.
- General managers inheriting somebody else's inventory.
- Retail sales floors outside automotive with the same walk-in problem.
What actually happens
Week by week
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Week one, the store review
Two days at your location. Cane walks the inventory with your buyer, pulls aging and turn by segment, and looks at what you paid against what the market is paying. He watches your floor at your two busiest hours and times the walk-in from arrival to greeting to test drive. He also reads three months of deal jackets.
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Week two, inventory and pricing
Aged units get a decision instead of a hope. Segments you keep losing money in get capped. Pricing moves to a rule you can repeat, tied to days in inventory, and the person who owns that decision gets named out loud.
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Weeks three to five, the floor process
Greeting, qualification, walk-around, demo drive, write-up, and the turn to management, in that order, with a time target on each. Cane runs it with your team on live traffic, then watches from the desk while your manager runs it. Phone and internet leads get their own script and a response time you can hold people to.
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Weeks five to eight, desking and F&I handoff
How deals get structured, what gets presented first, and how a customer arrives in the box already expecting the conversation. Cane works with your F&I person on the handoff and the menu, and stays out of product selection and lender agreements.
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Weeks eight to twelve, pay plans and the board
Pay plans get rebuilt around gross and process compliance rather than volume alone. The board in the tower shows the four numbers that matter and nothing else. Cane trains your manager to run the daily save and the weekly one-on-one.
What changes
- Aged units get decided on rather than parked at the back of the location.
- Every walk-in gets greeted the same way, in the same number of seconds.
- Internet leads get answered while the customer is still shopping.
- Front and back gross stop moving in opposite directions.
- Your manager runs the floor from the desk instead of taking deals themselves.
No published gross-per-unit figures. Ask him on the call what happened in his own stores and he will tell you, because those numbers are his to share.
What it costs
$750 to $1,500 one off
The sales audit. Your process, your team's performance, lead handling, follow up and closing, and a written read on what is costing you the most. Stands alone if you want the diagnosis and nothing else.
$2,500 to $10,000+ a month
Store work runs as the growth program or as executive consulting, depending on whether you need the floor trained or the whole sales operation carried. The audit tells you which. Ninety days minimum.
Priced per rooftop. No percentage of gross, no commission, no equity. All three packages and what moves the number.
How to start
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Send the form
Rooftops, units a month, and where you think the leak is.
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Thirty minutes on the phone
He will ask your average days in inventory and your front and back gross. If you are inside his market radius he will say so here.
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The review week, then a scope
Dates for the two days at your location, the fee, and what the written findings will cover.
Bring to the call
Units sold last month, average days in inventory, and your aging report if you can pull it. If nobody can pull an aging report, start there.
Questions dealers ask
Are you going to compete with my store?
Cane owns two independent stores, in Cleveland and Canton. He does not take dealership clients inside his own market radius, and he will tell you on the first call whether you are inside it.
Do you work with franchise stores or only independents?
Both. Floor process and desking work translates directly. Manufacturer programs and stair-step incentives are outside what he advises on.
Will you touch F&I?
The handoff, the timing, and the menu presentation, yes. Product selection, lender agreements, and compliance stay with your F&I director and your attorney.
How long before anything shows up in the numbers?
Floor process and appointment show rate move within weeks because they are behavioural. Inventory turn takes a full buying cycle, which in most stores is sixty to ninety days.
Do you need access to our DMS?
Read access for the review week, or exported reports if that is easier. He does not need write access to anything.
If your floor process is solid and the gap is how the reps talk, read sales team training.
Two days at your location tells him most of it.
Start with thirty minutes on the phone and your aging report.