Message from the Executive Director, Dr. A.V. Fleming – 2nd quarter 2024
Madam C. J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the Guinness Book of World Records. Ms. Walker once talked about change. “Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them”.
Between 1911 and 1919, during the height of her career, Ms. Walker and her company employed several thousand women as sales agents for its products. By 1917, the company claimed to have trained 20,000 women. The Walker beauty culturists demonstrated their products in their homes and beauty salons because they needed a source of water to be able to show how the products worked. Walker understood the power of advertising and brand awareness. Heavy advertising, primarily in African American newspapers and magazines, in addition to Walker’s frequent travels to promote her products, helped make Walker and her products well known in the United States.
During the last few years, one can say that the Retail Automotive industry has had its share of challenges. Starting with COVID-19 in 2019. However, the major impact of COVID-19 was felt worldwide on March 11, 2019. Change was upon us, and one had to react fast. The way many companies are doing business is out of change and necessity. Those that would not or did not adapt have fallen to the waste side. The next challenge that most dealers had that was caused by the pandemic was lack of inventory. Dealers had to become creative in securing every deal that came through their doors. Even though inventory was low, dealers were seeing historical profit margins which offset volume. EVs were starting to move from the early adapters to more mainstream customers. OEMs were gearing up production and infrastructure for the EV market. As the EV market starts to intensify, dealers must know how to have the right plan in place to take advantage of EV sales and service as the market corrects itself. As one can see, change is occurring every day in a significant way.
Cybersecurity is something that one may say does not affect my industry. Or that our systems would never fail like those in other industries. As we were putting together our second quarter newsletter, we got word that computers were hacked at CDK’s headquarters. Many dealers could not obtain information that is housed with CDK. For those that may not be up to speed on cybersecurity insurance, Cybersecurity insurance (cyber insurance) is a product that enables businesses to mitigate the risk of cyber crime activity like cyberattacks and data breaches. Insurers may require businesses to have a well-defined incident response plan to respond quickly and effectively to cyberattacks and mitigate their impact. An incident response plan documents your organization’s processes and procedures when a potential incident is detected. The demand for cyber insurance coverage is skyrocketing and becoming more difficult to get. At the same time, insurance providers’ losses are growing. High demand in combination with high payouts lead to increased premiums. Businesses report premium hikes of 50% and even 100% year over year. In most cases, your broker can generate a quote in less than 10 minutes. Once you are ready to proceed, your broker can go online and bind coverage (i.e., start coverage) immediately.
By having an association, we can have one large voice for our dealer body. Further, we can share experiences in our dealership that may help another dealer. If you belief that you are doing something unique in your dealership, please do not hesitate to send me your ideas or programs. Part of our success is supporting each other through sharing ideas and finding opportunities to gain positive experiences in our business.
In 2024 and beyond, it is our goal to continue improving tools and resources for our dealers to be profitable and meet all metrics. Further, we want to continue the momentum we harnessed over the years. Please keep our board and staff in your prayers as we conduct the mission of this grand and illustrious association.