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AddOnAuto also tracks the time dealerships take to present accessories to customers. According to the company, a typical presentation will take between six and 10 minutes. manager at Knoxville Toyota has been using AddOnAuto for about three years. He says it���s given his department a better profle. Te Tennessee dealership���s top-sellers include window tint, paint protection, wheels and tires, and leather interiors, Moore says. Te dealership employs an accessories salesperson who engages customers afer they���ve agreed to purchase a car and before they head to the fnance department. ���If they use the tool properly, the customer gets to see and visualize it,��� Moore notes. FROM FOE TO FRIEND Accessory sales have long been the bane of the salesperson hoping to close a quick deal, but AddOnAuto has shown that the average customer spends about seven to nine minutes choosing accessories, Moore notes. ���We had the fnger pointing at us for so long, we used to have an old-fashioned clock on the desk to time us,��� Moore explains. ���I���m not knocking fnance, but usually that���s where the time is spent.��� Toyota Knoxville averages between $700 and $900 per passenger vehicle in accessory sales, and averages about $1,200 to $1,500 on trucks, Moore says. ���People are going to buy stuf anyway, whether it���s at Pep Boys or the accessory shop. We���re trying to keep their business here.��� To that end, the dealership has a separate 26,000-square-foot building devoted to just accessories and reconditioning vehicles. His department has about a 50 percent penetration rate with customers, boosting the dealership���s monthly gross profts by about $100,000 to $125,000, Moore says. He lauded AddOnAuto for not only being a good sales tool, but also a good accounting mechanism. ���Te backside of the program has helped me as much as the front side,��� he says. No matter which direction a dealership takes when it comes to parts and accessories, the consumer must always be taken into consideration frst, All American���s Hook warns. ���It shouldn���t be hard to buy an accessory or buy a car. It should be easy,��� he says. He also urges sales staf to have some fun while taking care of the customer. ���You can���t do business with people and have it be a grind the whole process,��� Hook says. ���A lot of people don���t like the grind. We need to over promise and over deliver, meaning we need to over deliver what we promise. If you have a product that a customer is interested in, you have to give them better service than anyone else in town.��� ABOUT THE AUTHOR Paul Chavez is a freelance writer based in Venice, Calif. Contact him at paul.chavez@bobit.com. APRIL 2013 ��� AUTODE ALE R MONTHLY.COM 23