Many of us go to college with a plan in mind for most things, except how we are going to pay off our student loans. For Jenn Reid, student loans were not an option so she sold vehicles to pay for her education before eventually moving to the financial side of the automotive industry.
Since then Reid has helped build a finance company for Mazda, managed partnerships at Equifax, and joins us today as Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Market Scan Information Systems. We will discuss how she’s helping dealerships today with Market Scan’s innovative technology as well as being named a 2021 Rising Star from Automotive News.
As an industry, we’ve kind of lived in a world of “good enough” says Reid. What happened last year is customers weren’t coming through the door. They were coming through email and phone calls. COVID accelerated what was already happening for a very long time, says Reid. She says it’s been an important mission over the past year to get consumers the information they need to be tailored to them.
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One of the biggest CSI issues in the dealership is around finance. 83% of consumers expect to get a price they can transact in the first interaction. It takes a partnership between everyone, to get the customer in the vehicle that they need. Reid says being transparent, builds trust and gives you what you need to be successful in doing the transaction.
A car can show up and paperwork can get signed but is it a seamless transaction Reid asks? Reid believes digital retailing is going to be a continued evolution. She thinks that a lot of consumers, herself included that still want to test drive the vehicle. Reid believes in modern retailing. You need to have processes in place to allow consumers to buy the way they want to purchase.
Market Scan is a company that focuses on bringing science, technology, and data together to deliver a scientifically perfect solution for any automotive transaction. One of their core principles is they let the dealers dictate the terms they’re willing to transact. Reid says the missing ingredient is bringing together the dealer and consumer to a place they’re willing to make a transaction. As the industry continues to evolve, it’s going to take time but it’s going to be in a way of how things should be done, says Reid.
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