Like I See It: Obstacles and Opportunities Shaping the Future of Retail Automotive

Simply Selling More Cars Won’t Be Enough: Revolutionizing the Retail Automotive Industry

Dale Pollak believes that the car business–and the dealers who make their living in it–are in more trouble than anyone cares to admit. After four decades and three best-selling books, Pollak has witnessed the trials and triumphs of the retail automotive industry from a vantage point that few get. While car dealers are making good money, he warns that the industry is at a critical turning point, with too few paying attention to how inefficiency and lack of transparency are sapping the industry’s true potential. Amid the ever-faster confluence of technology, the Internet, and changing consumer preferences, the future prosperity of the industry is far from secure.

Like I See It offers practical solutions, such as making the sales process more customer-focused and digitally driven to encourage sales, managing new and used inventory to mitigate margin compression, and ending factory bonus checks. It spurs much-needed conversations and sets guideposts that help dealers, OEMs, and solution providers improve how they do business. It also shows dealers how to stay relevant, evolve to keep up with the changing times, and deal with issues like high personnel turnover and the coming disruption of ride-sharing, self-driving cars, and Millennials who don’t want (or can’t afford) to own a car.

Pollak believes that success will come to dealers who recognize that each customer engagement is a chance to make a positive impact and create a bond. He offers a collectively minded approach that will help build a better, more profitable, and prosperous retail automotive industry for tomorrow.