How Dealers Should Vet Vendors Before Signing Contracts

Introduction to vendor and dealer relationships

Hi, my name's Terry Dortch. I'm with Automotive Risk Management Partners. You know, I want to talk to you today about vendors, uh, loyalty, the whole that whole vendor dealer relationship thing. Um, it's a complicated process because there's so many vendors in the automotive industry, there's so many people chasing that dollar that's being produced by the sale of an automobile, it's incredible.

Terry Dortch's retail industry background

And what I want to talk about is this. At Automotive Risk Management Partners, we have an extensive background of the retail industry. I've been in this business since I was 14 years old. I'm a third generation, my grandfather was in it, my father was in it, I got in it. Many of you may recognize this, this is a sales ring, it's got nine diamonds that you can earn every year, it was through Lincoln Mercury, right, they don't even, I don't think they even do these anymore. That's how long ago I was selling cars and in the retail end of the business.

Challenges of managing too many vendors

I've been doing this a long time, and I understand the complexities of trying to deal with vendors and trying to figure out what's right and wrong, where the products are that we want to have in our dealerships and how we want to do things. And the reason I bring this up is this: there's a lot of vendors, and I get it, I understand that there's only so much time in a day, there's only so many days in a week and so many weeks in a year, and I mean I can go on and on. It's a limited resource, right, there's two things that we wish we could always have more of: dirt, time, that's really it, right, because you can't manufacture either one of those anymore.

Vendors should genuinely care about the dealership

So my whole point in this is make sure when you're talking to your vendors that they care about your dealership, that they care about what you're doing and why you're there, and that they're not just throwing a product at you that you're told you have to have, and it's half-assed. The bottom line here is at Automotive Risk Management Partners, we're there to take care of the dealer and to represent the dealer. Um, we're not in 40 different associations across this country, and you know why? Because some of them don't do good for the dealers. There's a lot of associations out there that all they're doing is chasing the dollar of the vendor to buy their own jobs, and I'm not going to name who's who or get into all of that, you guys know who's who, who the players are and what's going on.

Association endorsements do not guarantee value

The bottom line is this: when you're looking at your vendors, make sure that just because the vendor's endorsed by XYZ Association or GY down the street, that doesn't mean anything, because the bottom line is, is the vendor going to accomplish what you want him to accomplish, and are they there to take care of you, because you're the customer. We're there to take care of you. Again, I want you to just understand that, that's what we do, we understand the retail marketplace, we've been in it.

Advice to vet vendors before signing contracts

So the next time you have a vendor coming in and knocking on your door, what you're going to have today, tomorrow, I get it, they come knocking every day, they're either on the phone, they're hitting you with your emails, they're, I do it, we do it, we have to, that's what we do. And you're going to get just bombarded with it. Just do me a favor, take 10 minutes and make sure before you sign any contracts, before you do business with the vendor, that they're really there to take care of you, right, you're the customer. Too many of these dealers have signed on with vendors that aren't providing what they say they provide.

Just take a few minutes and vet them, and, I'll call us, we'll help you. If you don't, you don't have to do business with us. I've talked to so many people every day that never sign a contract with me, so don't hesitate to give us a call, we'll talk to you. Thanks. Information's on the screen here, you got our website, phone number, take care.