What Car Dealers Can Learn From Las Vegas Model

Las Vegas lends itself to analogies during industry conferences there, with speakers often holding up the city as a business model to follow.

The F&I Management and Technology conference was no exception, as evidenced by Dennis Doyle's keynote speech at the Paris Hotel on the Strip.

“This town was built on minimizing risks and maximizing profits,” says Doyle, a GMAC vice president. “When they say, ‘What happens in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas,’ they're talking about money.”

He says the city's casinos can teach auto dealerships a lesson or two in customer retention.

“Las Vegas also does an outstanding job in retaining customers,” Doyle says. “Harrah's data indicate its most loyal customers are not high rollers but low rollers. So the low rollers are treated like high rollers with customer reward programs.”

Meanwhile, finance and insurance expert Andrew Blazsanyik suggests car dealers follow “the house business model” of Las Vegas casinos.

“It is a disciplined approach,” he says at an earlier conference. “You realize you need good people working for you; people who are well trained to work at a place with a business model based on systems and controls.”