Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/379417
4 "The results of our stores since we've partnered with RpmOne speak for themselves. The reality of it is that nobody likes anybody to come in the house and tell them that there's dust under the bed. Anybody that thinks that's going to be a pleasant conversation is fooling themselves. But because they have the credibility of coming from where we come from, they understand our retail process. They have a leg up with credibility. If you can get the person who owns the house to look under the bed and see that yes, there are dust bunnies under the bed, then it's hard to refute. Now we get together and figure out what we need to do to clean it up. They do a good job of maintaining credibility to the point where we're all looking at ways to improve, not at ways to get defensive and trying to prove them wrong." That's how dealer principal Mike Bruno, owner of two Harley-Davidson dealerships in Louisiana, describes his relationship with RpmOne. Bruno has been working with RpmOne since 2009, nine years after he launched Bayou Country Harley-Davidson in Houma, and three years after he bought Northshore Harley-Davidson in Slidell. Though he had already implemented solid processes at both stores, he wasn't afraid to look into additional opportunities to increase the stores' profits. "We had started selling our own in-house prepaid maintenance and frankly did a piss- poor job of it," Bruno said. "We didn't know what the hell we were doing. At the same time, I've been a big believer in 20 groups, and we had a very aggressive 20 group, and a dealer in the group had gone to RpmOne, and they had good things to say about them. Not that I follow anybody's lead, but they do their homework. They mentioned that they had switched from their in-house policy to RpmOne and had some reasons for that, so I contacted [RpmOne]. They came down, and I liked what they had to say. We got together, and we now sell their prepaid maintenance and some of their extended service." Though a fellow dealer initially referred Bruno to RpmOne, he has stuck to the program for five years because the company is so familiar with dealerships like his own. "Every time the person from RpmOne has come in, they have been very well received in terms of their credibility. They knew what they were talking about; they spoke the same language as we do in terms of our sales process. That was one of the things that really tipped the scale for us to go with them. We use a certain sales process that they are very familiar with, so when they come in, we're all talking about the same stuff," Bruno explained. "I can say there's never been a time where they come in and we haven't had an opportunity to get better as a result of it." With RpmOne's training, the Northshore dealership has seen its prepaid maintenance penetration increase from a low 20s percent to the mid-to-high 40s percent. Northshore's F&I department is now sitting at $1,692 per vehicle retailed, while Bayou Country sells $1,769 in F&I products per vehicle. Though the Bayou Country store hasn't needed as much guidance from RpmOne, it has increased penetration about 5 percent since undergoing RpmOne's Business Development Assessment. "It's fine-tuning and tweaking stuff, and bringing stuff to our attention that we might have stopped doing. We operate at a pretty high level, I think, so if somebody 4 "The results of our stores since we've partnered with RpmOne speak for themselves. The reality of it is that nobody likes anybody to come in the house and tell them that there's dust under the bed. Anybody that thinks that's going to be a pleasant conversation is fooling themselves. But because they have the credibility of coming from where we come from, they understand our retail process. They have a leg up with credibility. If you can get the person who owns the house to look under the bed and see that yes, there are dust bunnies under the bed, then it's hard to refute. Now we get together and figure out what we need to do to clean it up. They do a good job of maintaining credibility to the point where we're all looking at ways to improve, not at ways to get defensive and trying to prove them wrong." That's how dealer principal Mike Bruno, owner of two Harley-Davidson dealerships in Louisiana, describes his relationship with RpmOne. Bruno has been working with RpmOne since 2009, nine years after he launched Bayou Country Harley-Davidson in Houma, and three years after he bought Northshore Harley-Davidson in Slidell. Though he had already implemented solid processes at both stores, he wasn't afraid to look into additional opportunities to increase the stores' profits. "We had started selling our own in-house prepaid maintenance and frankly did a piss- poor job of it," Bruno said. "We didn't know what the hell we were doing. At the same time, I've been a big believer in 20 groups, and we had a very aggressive 20 group, and a dealer in the group had gone to RpmOne, and they had good things to say about them. Not that I follow anybody's lead, but they do their homework. They mentioned that they had switched from their in-house policy to RpmOne and had some reasons for that, so I contacted [RpmOne]. They came down, and I liked what they had to say. We got together, and we now sell their prepaid maintenance and some of their extended service." Though a fellow dealer initially referred Bruno to RpmOne, he has stuck to the program for five years because the company is so familiar with dealerships like his own. "Every time the person from RpmOne has come in, they have been very well received in terms of their credibility. They knew what they were talking about; they spoke the same language as we do in terms of our sales process. That was one of the things that really tipped the scale for us to go with them. We use a certain sales process that they are very familiar with, so when they come in, we're all talking about the same stuff," Bruno explained. "I can say there's never been a time where they come in and we haven't had an opportunity to get better as a result of it." With RpmOne's training, the Northshore dealership has seen its prepaid maintenance penetration increase from a low 20s percent to the mid-to-high 40s percent. Northshore's F&I department is now sitting at $1,692 per vehicle retailed, while Bayou Country sells $1,769 in F&I products per vehicle. Though the Bayou Country store hasn't needed as much guidance from RpmOne, it has increased penetration about 5 percent since undergoing RpmOne's Business Development Assessment. "It's fine-tuning and tweaking stuff, and bringing stuff to our attention that we might have stopped doing. We operate at a pretty high level, I think, so if somebody CASE STUDY NO. 2: Mike Bruno's Harley-Davidson HELPING A HIGH-PERFORMING DEALER REACH HIGHER Mike Bruno says RpmOne increased his dealerships' F&I profits Locations: Bayou Country, Houma, LA; Northshore, Slidell, LA 10514S-PSB-RPMOne Dealer Case Study.indd 4 8/29/14 10:30 AM