Fleet-ing Thoughts

2006 IARA Summer Roundtable:I’m a Yellow-Belt Now!

Just a day after the Ford Fleet Preview show in Las Vegas, it was time for the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance (IARA) Summer Roundtable, July 26^rd –28^th, in San Diego. This roundtable series is unique, and very on point to what we do (remarketing). Steve Houston, the current President (pictured left); Matt Marks, the Executive Director; and Scott Kolb, Chairman of the Education Committee; always do an outstanding job of keeping the roundtables fresh and informative for anyone who touches the remarketing industry. Given my “strenuous” days in Vegas with the Ford Fleet Preview show though (all that heat), I have to admit that I wasn’t really running on all cylinders at the Board of Directors meeting that preceded the Roundtable Wednesday afternoon. Sorry guys, I had just stepped off the plane and you know how tiring flying can get…

Two Topics on Every Remarketer’s Mind: Reconditioning and Transportation

The IARA gatherings always include a roundtable format, usually dealing with topics that have no “answer” but induce discussion among the member attendees, with field experts moderating the discussion. Given that the members of this group are all remarketing professionals representing various facets of the business, this not only generates a lively discussion but these different viewpoints usually produce a rounded analysis of the issue not achievable in a standard seminar.

This time, the roundtable topics addressed vehicle reconditioning (prior to remarketing) with a roundtable moderated by Chuck Nix; and vehicle transportation with a session moderated by Don Fowler (pictured left). There is always debate as to the right amount of money to invest in reconditioning units to maximize remarketing dollars, and opinions usually vary by sector, so the subject was a perfect one to kick around. Vehicle transportation promotes less contention, but advances and competition in that area of the business make it worthy of discussion.

“Go for No!” and A Very Special Award…

The lunch keynote speaker, Richard Fenton, presented one of the most unique sales motivation talks I have ever heard. Fenton’s “Go for No” talk, based on a book by the same name (apt Publishing – see www.goforno.com), advises all to “fail your way to success.” In it, Fenton argues that the “ultimate strategy for achieving sales success is not to merely ‘tolerate’ failure and rejection but to intentionally seek it out.” Fenton illustrated his point with many entertaining examples of how the fear of rejection and failure holds back success in everyday life. I saw Fenton’s presentation once before at an AFLA meeting a few years ago, and he is one of those speakers that you look forward to seeing again and again. I should also note here that Richard Fenton’s father, Don Fenton, who passed away a few years back, was one of the fleet sales legends in this business; all of us in the sales end of the fleet business today owe a debt to Don, not only for his counsel and friendship (he was one of those folks everyone seemed to know and like), but for being one of the trailblazers in dealership fleet sales.

The Award lunch was also gratifying, since I knew the IARA Remarketing Industry Recognition Award recipient personally. He is one of our “own” on the Board of Directors of the association, Layne Weber, Vice President of Remarketing for Donlen Corporation. The Remarketing Recognition Award is given out once a year by IARA, to someone in the industry has made an outstanding contribution to the remarketing industry or to community service. Layne certainly fit the bill for the award, having raised over $186,000 in the last three years for the “One Step at a Time” program, started by Children’s Oncology Services, Inc. The “One Step at a Time” program helps children who have just found out they have leukemia or tumors participate in camp, special trips and other activities, usually staffed by volunteers who are cancer survivors and who went through the program as youths and returned to serve as counselors. Layne’s efforts in raising money, with the help of participating auctions and TPC Management, allowed many children to attend, as the tuition and fees are often partially or completely waived. Layne created an annual fund drive event that raised $26,000 in 2004, the first year of operation; $60,000 in 2005, and an amazing $100,000 in 2006. A personal congratulations Layne; you are a great example of why “car guys” are the best…

Layne Weber and David Alfonso pictured - the award was given out by David Alfonso, Auction Sales Manager for Kia Motors of America.

I’m Now a Yellow Belt, and I Didn’t Even Crack a Few Boards…

After lunch IARA offered a pretty unique experience for a trade association, full Yellow Belt Six Sigma Training, conducted by Bill Vermilyea (pictured below), a Six Sigma Black Belt from SSEG Consulting. Problem, process, procedure, data interpretation…not to mention a multi-page training guide…this was a fairly serious address right after lunch and took over three hours, but, at the end of it, even I ended up with a Yellow Belt certificate. The next level, Green Belt certification, requires the undertaking of an actual project, overseen by a Black Belt supervisor. I have to say I don’t think I’ll be doing that any time soon, but for educational value, this IARA Roundtable addition was very substantive.

I Had to Run by the Second Day, but Wish I Could have Stayed On…

I hate to admit it, but once in California I had meetings further north that I had to attend first thing Friday morning, so I couldn’t stay for the couple of roundtable panel presentations the next morning. This was clearly my loss, because I was very interested in each of the topics and know that the moderators were first rate in keeping panel discussion on point and insightful.

What did I miss? The first panel session for that Friday morning, was on “Vehicle Arbitration – Physical and Online Sales,” moderated by Jane Morgan from ADESA. Given the current attempts by the industry to adopt a uniform standard on vehicle conditioning, and, in general, the transition of arbitration rules from a solely “brick and mortar” physical presence to a much different online auction environment, I’m sure I would have benefited if I could have stayed for this one.

The second panel was populated by car dealers and had the very compelling title, “Why I Buy (or don’t) Your Vehicles,” moderated by Layne Weber from Donlen. This is also very relevant to our business, and another one I am sorry I missed.

So I’ll close this entry kind of on the same theme as I started it. There just aren’t enough hours in the day or days in the week – else, I would have been at all of the roundtables, visited my clients, and still had time to catch up on some much needed sleep…

2007 Ford Fleet Preview – Simply the Best…in Message, Meeting & Merriments

I have to admit, even before I got to the Ford Fleet Preview show, July 23rd –25th, I was predisposed to like it the best, as it felt great to have a real bona fide invitation (no more gate crashing) and, of course, Las Vegas is my favorite venue for any car related function. However, this year Ford outdid itself in so many ways, that it clearly was the “best in class” fleet preview show by far.

A Message with Impact, Right from the Top

First, the keynote address of the business meeting on the first night was given by none other than Mark Fields, Executive Vice President, Ford Motor Company; President, The Americas. Regular readers of this blog remember that I was impressed by how much Fields knew about fleet when he addressed the JD Power Roundtable meeting last January. Now I’m even more impressed not only by his detailed knowledge of the three channels of the fleet business (commercial, rental & government), but that he thought enough of this end of the business to take the time out to address the entire group, have some smaller group meetings, and participate in the cocktail “mingling.” You might assume this would be the case, being that, as Fields so aptly noted, fleet is such a large part of the total domestic manufacturers’ new vehicle sales (for Ford it was 27% of their vehicle sales last year, with something like 750k units….and this year they project 900k unit sales), but I have to note that Fields was the only top level executive who “stepped up to the plate” to address the crowd at the domestic fleet preview shows this year. As critical as fleet is to GM and Chrysler, I didn’t see Rick Wagoner at the GM show, or Tom Lasorda at the Chrysler show…

It was clear Fields knew what he was talking about as well. He had his fleet facts in order, and he clearly understands the dynamics of the business. It’s unfortunate, but I’d swear a lot of executives at that level that I have met only have a passing understanding of how fleet works (unless, of course, they started in that side of the business as lots do…). The other thing that impresses me about Mark Fields is that when he mingles at a Ford cocktail party he really gets around…he even spoke with me this time. Now that’s my kind of car guy.

Mark Fields, one of the best known leaders in the autmotive industry, was the keynote speaker, shown here with Demetra Markopoulos of Driveitaway

As the chief architect and executive in charge of implementation of Ford’s “Way Forward” program, Mark Fields has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, and while not ignoring the press or Wall Street, it seems to me that Fields knows that being in the trenches, talking to volume buyers and dealers, is the key to getting direct feedback and selling vehicles. In my view, this is the strategy that wins wars; many forget but this was exactly Lee Iacocca’s approach when he led the dramatically successful turnaround of Chrysler Corp. many years ago. From what I see firsthand, the “Way Forward” has strong, in touch, leadership, which is usually the key to success. My bet is that Fields will join the ranks of turnaround legends Iacocca and, most recently, Ghosn, in the not-too- distant future (remember, you heard it here first…).

On the “Edge” with Rick Titus, and a Very Hot Ride & Drive

This year’s fleet show, of course, had it

s share of new product presentations and the required “ride & drive” product comparisons. The new Edge and Ford truck was presented by “Driver’s Talk” radio host Rick Titus, with a pretty elaborate performance and display.

Rick Titus from “Driver’s Talk” radio

In addition, there was a safety forum featuring Tom Artushin, Safety Strategy Manager at Ford; a design forum with Peter Horbury, Ford’s Executive Director, Design, North America; and an exhibit center set up with Ford Fleet supplier partners. The ride and drive at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway was nice addition t

oo, but added new meaning to the term “hot weather.” Yes, I know a heat wave is gripping the entire country right now, and it’s hard to find any locale south of Alaska that isn’t in the 90’s, but Vegas had to have been around 110 degrees that day (no fooling), so the label “ride & fry” might have been more appropriate.

Closing Night Entertainment: Jay Leno

The Ford Fleet Preview show has a history of providing the best entertainment in the fleet side of the business; last year featured Michael McDonald and the year before that it was Earth, Wind & Fire. However, this year they ou

tdid themselves in securing Jay Leno as entertainment for the closing night. Securing the host of the “Tonight Show,” one of the more famous civilian self-proclaimed “car guys,” was indeed quite a coup. The reception and dinner was great, the performance by Jay Leno exceptional and, without doubt, this was not only the best fleet preview show of the year, but quite possibly the best one I’ve ever attended (with a legitimate invitation or not). Hats off to Hal Feder, Executive Director, Ford North American Fleet, Lease & Remarketing Operations, and John Rupert, General Manager, Commercial & Government Operations, for an outstanding show both in content and presentation. In these challenging times for the domestics, it’s very impressive that the Ford fleet folks not onl

y met their high quality standards of past fleet preview shows, but surpassed them…

Hal Feder, of Ford Fleet fame, and Jay Leno, the featured entertainer known for his car collection -- aside from The Tonight Show, of course.

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