I come from a family who operated dealerships in Sacramento from 1956 to 2014 – I literally grew up around a dealership. So when I came to McKevitt Volvo as General Manager in late 2014, I was already familiar with the issues I’d be facing.

The challenges.

To begin with, we had too much inventory, which was obviously a problem. But there was a bigger issue: Volvo dealers continued waiting for the arrival of the 2016 XC90 and it was tough to connect with the interested buyers of the models we had in stock.

While we were steadily growing sales volume in 2015 and eventually began selling more than many other Volvo stores in Northern California, we like many Volvo retailers struggled with profitability. Fred Lavery, the owner and Principle of Mckevitt Volvo, worked with me on a daily basis to go through the numbers in depth and learn more about the accounting side of the business.

I’d heard of LotLinx before coming to McKevitt. I knew they were the pioneers in emphasizing the importance of VDP views, and understanding how they relate to actual sales. It was a fairly new concept in the automotive space, but I knew LotLinx was at the forefront, and that it could be a game-changer for us.

Saving $8,666 in holding costs.

All of that inventory sitting on the lot was expensive – and I knew if LotLinx could help us cut just a week out of that time, it would have a big impact. My digital budget was conservative, to say the least. So I needed a digital partner that would help us move specific cars faster, without wasting our marketing dollars. With LotLinx, cars started moving, and we started saving.

We made much better use of our budget, too, spending just $3.27 per VDP view and $39.61 per vehicle sold.

1,067 VDP views in one month.

While McKevitt had been using LotLinx to some extent before I arrived, we steadily increased our commitment with them, to the point where they were my only digital resource for a time.

I knew I could target a specific model, and LotLinx would generate activity another provider just couldn’t. The VDP views kept climbing, and so did our sales.

An impressive 176% increase in inventory turn.

Here’s a great example of how effective LotLinx is at getting our inventory moving: We had a five-passenger and seven-passenger version of the XC90 SUV. The seven-passenger version was selling well, but the five-passenger versions weren’t moving – literally no activity.

But, when I ran LotLinx campaigns targeting the five-passenger XC90s, they started rolling off the lot. We even had people coming from other states for those cars – and they were LotLinx leads. (One buyer came all the way from Texas!)

From mid pack in the SF Bay area, to number one in northern California.

LotLinx was a key element of our ability to achieve record sales and sustained growth. We’re a scrappy dealership, and we definitely punch above our weight. We have a great team, we worked hard, and, with LotLinx on our side, the results just started to come in.

At the beginning of this challenge, I knew it would be a huge undertaking. Growing and recovering from such difficult times has, frankly, been an absolute blast.

Be sure to check out other LotLinx success stories here.