News and PR

Setting Aside Time for Training Makes a Difference

Over the past year, Five Star Subaru of Grapevine, in Texas, has significantly boosted its accessory sales—an increase of 154% increase, to be exact.  Five Star Subaru of Grapevine is one of our top accessory sales dealerships, and we were delighted to interview their parts manager, Kale Engelhardt, to share how this dealership boosted its accessory sales.

How Consistency Creates Cash Commission

Superior Subaru of Houston has an astounding accessory sales track record that has elevated the store above its competition.

Leveling up from the previous year, with a whopping 72% increase in average monthly sales revenue, annual accessory sales are expected to continue climbing. We spoke to sales manager Naser Maraghi to take a closer look at their accessory sales process. 

How Management Support and Consistency Raises Revenue

In Keene, New Hampshire, a Hyundai store has seen massive growth in its accessory sales system. How? One word: consistency. In Q1 2022, Hyundai of Keene had a 133% accessory order increase compared to Q1 2021. Once operations director George Thompson started at this dealership, he increased the dealership’s average monthly accessory sales revenue up to $3k by using our system. 

How modern is your dealership? Are you presenting accessories with a digital solution or are you still using pen and paper? After customers are sold on their vehicle, they deserve the same modern customer experience to customize their vehicle. The accessory industry generates around $6.9 billion dollars, according to SEMA. While dealerships everywhere expected the pandemic to kill accessory sales, they actually soared, and exceeded the industry’s projections.

How an Accessory Manager Sells 70 Items A Month, Single-Handedly

In the heart of Texas there is a dealership that shines under the sun, with accessory sales sparkling brighter than their vehicle sales. Gillman Subaru Southwest in Houston, Texas, is a diamond in the rough with unmatched accessory sales. When you sell accessories, what is your method? Do you have one? Do you show your customer a list of the most popular items for that vehicle? Ask them their driving habits or daily routine? Gillman Subaru Southwest found their secret recipe to success—and after speaking to their accessory manager, Aldo Cortes—we were lucky enough to decipher it. Cortes has mastered his accessory sales process and we sat down for an interview with him to help others sell accessories just as effortlessly!

Sax Motor Co., a Chevrolet Dealer in Dickinson, North Dakota, hit more than $136,000 in accessory sales since they began using the Insignia Group Accessory Sales System, only two months ago. Despite the inventory and chip shortages, Sax Motor Co. has flourished in accessory sales. 

The mention of low inventory has been talked about since March 2021, and we aren’t done yet. With the newest prediction being that dealerships will be dealing with low inventory until 2023, more dealerships are now starting to feel the squeeze.

While low inventory does drive up the selling price, it’s not enough when you’re a volume dealership that goes from 150-400 cars a month to 30. No amount of increase in price is going to replace the lack of inventory. This results in budget cuts, salespeople being laid off, and dealerships scrambling to figure out a way t

o offset the damage. The good news: a not so creative, yet slightly secretive solution is accessories.

How They Sold Accessories with Low Inventory

In Burnsville, Minnesota there’s a CDJR store called Dodge of Burnsville and they’ve been with Insignia Group since November 2013; they have really upped their accessory sales process over the past few years, starting with signing up for the Everything Program (called Guided Program then) in January 2019.

The past 18 months in the COVID era have caused many dealerships to do a double-take over their businesses. How do you sell when no one can come into the store? What do you do if half your employees need to quarantine? And finally, how do you make money when chip shortages have made it difficult to get new vehicles on the lot?