What if your sales were cut in half tomorrow?
Most dealers find out how exposed they are during the downturn. By then, the cheap options are gone.
- The 7 moves to make in the first 30 days of a downturn
- The “expensive optimism” sitting on your lot
- The War Room test most dealers cannot pass
Most dealers find out how exposed they are during the downturn. By then, the cheap options are gone. Chapter 1 of Dealer Survival Guide gives you the seven moves to make in the first 30 days, before a crisis forces them on you.Chapter 1 of Dealer Survival Guide: the seven moves to make before a downturn forces them on you.
Read Chapter 1 of Dealer Survival Guide at no cost. Complimentary access is available for a limited time only.
- 01The “expensive optimism” sitting on your lot right now, and when to wholesale it even at a loss
- 02Why a $15,000 car that sells in ten days is often worth more than a $45,000 car that sits for ninety
- 03Six questions that show how long your store survives if the bank freezes your line. Most dealers cannot answer the last one.
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See Max Zanan's books20 chapters. 5 parts. One playbook for resilience.
From recession and digital disruptors to Chinese automakers, OEM direct sales, cyber risk and the talent shortage, Max examines the forces reshaping automotive retail and what dealers can do about each one. Chapter 1 opens with the scenario most dealers assume will never happen.
From the author of Perfect Dealershipand Definitive Guide to F&I
U.S. dealerships disappeared from the count in 2008 and 2009 alone.
Drop in U.S. new-vehicle sales from 2007 to 2009. In many showrooms it felt closer to half.
Reduction in GM's U.S. dealer network from 2008 levels during its restructuring.
The pressure is already building in most stores
You do not need a recession to feel it. Most dealers are already dealing with at least three of these.
Shrinking front-end gross
Every deal takes more work, more discounting and more time for less money.
Aged units on the lot
Inventory that sits is not an asset. It is floorplan interest you pay every month.
Service walking out the door
Independents and national chains are taking work your customers used to bring you.
Good people getting poached
Your best managers, F&I producers and techs get calls from competitors every week.
Pressure from every direction
OEM mandates, new competitors, regulation and rising costs, all at the same time.
Chapter 1 shows you what to do about it before it turns into a crisis. Free for a limited time.
Send me Chapter 1 freeThe dealers who survive are not the biggest. They are the ones who prepared.
Dear Dealer,
I have spent more than twenty-six years in automotive retail, working with dealers throughout North America. In 2008 and 2009, I watched vehicle sales collapse, credit freeze, and thousands of GM and Chrysler dealerships disappear. Many of those stores were well run. They were simply built for a different economy.
The dealers who came through it did not survive because they were the biggest. They survived because they adapted, and most of them started preparing before they were forced to.
Today the threats are different: Carvana, Chinese automakers, OEMs selling direct, cyberattacks, a shrinking talent pool. The lesson is exactly the same. I wrote Dealer Survival Guide so you can ask the hard “what if” questions now, while you still have time and options, instead of answering them in the middle of a crisis.
Start with Chapter 1. Run the War Room exercise with your leadership team. If it shows you something that worries you, that is exactly the point.
Hope is not a strategy. Preparation is.
Amazon best-selling author of Perfect Dealership
The 50% Scenario: what to do if sales are cut in half
Chapter 1 asks the question most dealers only face when it is too late, then gives you the seven moves that matter most, in order of priority.
Cut expenses before the bank tells you to
Why keeping too many people in a downturn can end up costing everyone their job.
Turn inventory into cash
The inventory mistake that sank dealers in 2008, and the rule that prevents it.
Rebuild your used-car strategy
Why velocity beats vanity when customers start trading down.
Protect fixed ops at all costs
The department that keeps the lights on while sales recover, and why most dealers underinvest in it.
Treat F&I as a strategic asset
When front-end gross compresses, this often decides whether a deal makes money at all.
Preserve cash ruthlessly
The one question to ask of every expense, subscription and capital project on your books.
Buy while others panic
What the strongest dealer groups acquired while everyone else was cutting.
The Dealer War Room exercise
Six questions to answer with your leadership team in the next 30 days. Together they show how long your dealership could operate if credit tightened. Most dealers cannot answer the last one.
- Which positions go first?
- Which units do you wholesale tomorrow?
- How much cash can you free up in 60 days?
- How long do you survive if the bank freezes your line?
“Dealers rarely go bankrupt because they sold a car too cheaply. They go bankrupt because they ran out of liquidity.”From Chapter 1, Dealer Survival Guide
What dealers say about Max Zanan
General managers and directors who have worked with Max and read his books.
I've been working with Max for years, and our dealership has benefitted enormously from his guidance and strategies. The truth that many dealers don't want to hear is that the industry is changing fast and dealerships need to adapt or die.
Perfect Dealership is the book the auto industry needs. With every chapter, Max outlines a modern and structured view of how to run and grow a profitable, ethical, and future-facing dealership. In an industry with little formal education and few true standards, Perfect Dealership is a handbook for effective automotive management across all levels and departments. Every dealership owner and manager needs a copy.
The finance department is the backbone of a dealership. If you are going to run a clean, profitable finance department, you need quality products with consistent representation and training. Improved processes translate into higher CSI and customer retention, not to mention higher PVR. Max and his team provide my dealership and finance managers with everything we need to be successful, and they do it well!
They worked with every one of my finance managers to make sure they used the menu to present 100% of the products 100% of the time, and the results were successful. I would recommend Max Zanan to any dealer.
Twenty chapters on the risks reshaping automotive retail
This book is not about predicting the future. It is about preparing for it. Chapter 1 is where it starts.
Existential Threats
Recession, Carvana and Amazon, Chinese automakers, OEM direct sales, regulation.
The Great Profit Migration
Service, tires, parts, accessories, F&I and reinsurance you have been giving away.
Internal Threats
Talent, complacency, financial stress, cyberattacks and reputation.
Black Swans
Pandemics, wars, supply chains, banking crises and OEM failures.
The Unbreakable Dealership
War Room, Dealer Dashboard, anti-fragility and the Annual Stress Test.
Max Zanan
Max Zanan has spent more than twenty-six years in automotive retail, consulting with dealers throughout North America on F&I, dealership operations and dealer participation structures. He is the founder of MZ Dealer Services and an Amazon best-selling author.
Dealer Survival Guide is his most direct book yet: a working framework for finding what could hurt your store, and fixing it while you still have options.
Also by Max Zanan
Ask “what if?” before the crisis. Not after.
The dealers who prepare early have options. The ones who prepare late have explanations. Chapter 1 is free for a limited time.
Send me Chapter 1 free