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The year was 2009, and I'd just moved to the big city for my first job out of college. Sporting a pink razor flip phone, I was ready to take on my first sales territory. The problem was, I didn't know how to get there. So a co-worker loaned me his TomTom navigation system, gave me a crash course in how to use it, and I set out into the world. 

Fast forward a couple of decades, and we're projecting navigation onto our dash—after getting in a car that we started from inside. The kids are watching YouTube videos in the back seat, and we're holding a casual conversation with Alexa as we merge onto the freeway. Those are just the basics, of course. 

As COVID-19 shut down America as we knew it, extroverts all across America found themselves taking refuge in their cars. What started with just taking a drive, turned into eating take-out in the driveway. Before we knew what was happening, kids’ birthday parties morphed into drive-by parades. Campgrounds closed and truck beds became the go-to spot for a night under the stars.

We posted the original version of this blog over a year ago. Since last year, hundreds of dealerships have joined Insignia to increase their accessory sales and with this welcomed growth there are some growing pains. The main pain being, we needed more VPEs. Like a superhero movie, Insignia assembled the industry’s very best to take on nationwide consulting coverage. Now, a year later, we welcome several new members to our team. Get to know the VPE behind your dealership's success.

Just a few short years ago, Insignia Group was a team of fewer than twenty, with a field sales staff of four. Though our customer base was peppered across the nation, the pairing of our in-house customer service team and outside field team serviced our dealerships from coast to coast.

The team at Insignia lives for selling accessories - it's in our veins. From our VPEs sharing their years of experience, to our best practices giving dealers the latest industry tips, to our blog showcasing successful dealerships, we are the leaders in Vehicle Personalization. 

Just a few months back, Insignia launched Jaguar Land Rover-branded virtual configurators to take JLR’s vehicle personalization market to the next level. Brenda Fevrier,Vehicle Accessories Sales and Marketing Senior Specialist at Jaguar Land Rover predicted “this innovative system will make average stores great, and excellent stores outstanding at satisfying the needs of their customers first.”

Luxury brand dealers know the art of the customer experience well and recognize perfection as a moving target. That’s why JLR took digital personalization in the showroom and turned it into so much more.

Insignia customers, you are about to be upgraded.

The Insignia's OnTrack 1.0 will release August 7 and you’re going to love what you see. A sleek, modern new interface that’s easier to navigate-because you deserve it. We’re proud to introduce OnTrack to our Toyota dealers who number close to 20% of TMS stores. This is our first step towards a complete revamping the system to more closely align with your showroom process.

You read that right--when our customers give us feedback on what isn’t working in real-life accessory presentations, what would make vehicle personalization sales that much better, and what this system looks like in a perfect world, we listen.

If you thought middle school gym class was nerve wracking, how about your first day in car sales?

Being the fresh face on the sales floor can be intense. There’s a lot to be learned and plenty of competition. While healthy dealerships foster a team atmosphere that builds each individual up, a desire to prove oneself is prevalent in the showroom.

With incentive checks, recognition, and promotions at stake, it’s no wonder that every good salesperson wants to be number one. When that need to achieve is nurtured in a good-natured environment, these highly motivated salespeople lay a sturdy foundation for profitable dealerships to build upon. But how do dealerships acculturate the new guy (or gal) to the competition without discouraging them?

Any dealership can slap together an accessory program, hand out a brochure, and dangle a carrot in front of their sale staff. More than likely, you can sell a few things with this approach. There’s no doubt, after all, that people are buying accessories: simply offering the product will produce a few bucks.

Dealerships that are building million dollar personalization profit centers in the showroom know that vehicle personalization is an artform and requires careful attention to details. Success in selling accessories takes a carefully constructed process, which varies by things like brand and store size, to name a few. As more and more dealerships across the nation tap into the multi-billion-dollar industry of automotive accessories, the necessity of shepherding in the process climbs in demand.

If there were a school for how to master this car dealership thing, you’d read about Denver’s Mountain States Toyota in the history book. Consistent vision. Unrivaled dedication to the success of each team member. Well over two million dollars in accessory sales for two years running.

General Sales Manager Sean Kramer reflects on the incredible accomplishments of Mountain States Toyota.

"We’ve seen tremendous growth in sales volume and accessory sales since implementing our Insignia process about two and a half years ago,” Kramer explains.

Rudy Luther Toyota is building, in every sense of the word. With well over a million dollars in accessory sales last year, its personalization profit center helped justify the expansion of a new service building, which has further increased its in-house installations.

Dedicated in-house installer Andrew Felland has been an accessories technician for fifteen years, and spent the last five of those at Rudy Luther. When the dealership could no longer contain the increasing orders in its service department, management knew Andrew needed his own separate location.