Is it possible to provide personal experiences with one-size-fits-all solutions?

Relationships may be a huge part of sales for dealers, but for luxury dealerships, building relationships are everything. 

In this episode of Dealer Confidential, host Ilana Shabtay speaks with Mabel Peralta, Sales and Finance Manager at Aston Martin Summit, about why current automotive marketing and sales solutions often miss the mark when it comes to fostering the personal connections that are vital for luxury dealerships.

Here’s what one anonymous dealer had to say:

Dear Ilana,

I’m writing as a luxury dealer who feels overlooked by technology companies. Many solutions seem to be a one-size-fits-all, ignoring the unique needs of our clients. As we work to provide exceptional service, it’s frustrating to see tech innovations that not only don’t enhance the luxury experience, they never consider us in the first place.

Sincerely,

A Disappointed Dealer

Ilana and Mabel dive into:

• The differences in sales approaches at luxury dealerships.
• The importance of building lasting relationships with clients.
• The challenges luxury dealers face within larger auto groups.
• How current automotive tech solutions are falling short for high-end dealerships.

Resources mentioned:

• Ilana Shabtay
• Mabel Peralta
• Aston Martin Summit
• NADA

Episode Transcript:

Mabel Peralta (00:00)

but let’s be honest, the CRM is like the sea of no return. You put things in there and the more you add, the more those things go to the bottom and you never see it

Ilana Shabtay (00:09)

Yeah.

Ilana Shabtay here, host of Dealer Confidential, where we take anonymous hot takes from the industry and talk about them here on the podcast so that we can make the industry better. I’m here today with a really special guest. Super excited to spend time with her. Heard so much about you. Mabel Peralta, how are you? Good, thank you so much for joining today. Again, I hear so many good things about you and your work in the industry. So really excited to get your take today.

Mabel Peralta (00:55)

Good, how are you?

Ilana Shabtay (01:06)

Mabel is the manager at Aston Martin Summit in New Jersey and has 11 years of experience on the retail side, but been in automotive even more than that. So, lots of knowledge, again, excited to talk about it. And a super interesting hot take today that is relevant to your business and your work. At NADA this past year, we got a few anonymous hot takes. One of them was the solutions that we see aren’t always optimized specifically for luxury dealers.

And we’d love to see some more tailored options for luxury dealers, high-end dealers. It’s not always one size fits all when it comes to the softwares that are available. I’d love to know, as a manager of Aston Martin and your experience, do you agree with the sentiment? What are your thoughts right when you hear that?

Mabel Peralta (01:35)

Correct.

I do agree. So it’s definitely not a one size fits all because you have to cater to a different kind of clientele and everyone has this

this perception of an Aston client or even a luxury client. And they come in all shapes and sizes and colors, so you never know who’s gonna walk in. But the difference is the attention to detail that you provide from the second the customer walks in to the minute they leave and after they buy the car. That’s when that relationship actually starts. So the buying process is you just dating your customer.

When they buy the car, you guys are getting married. And that’s when the work really starts. And that’s when you really have to pay attention to detail. Things like birthdays, their dog, spraining their kneecaps. So when they come here for service, you’re like, oh my god, is your dog okay? I remember the last time. So you have to really pay close attention. And it’s really a bespoke, and I say it because Aston says it lot, it’s a bespoke kind of experience that you have to give your customer, and I’ve

done that from when I started with Volvo, know, handwritten thank you cards. I would have a picture frame. And in Volvo font, I would print out like, welcome Mr. John Doe, congratulations on your new XC90. And then I would sign the bottom. So it looked like an autographed frame of words. I would do everything very much with the customer in mind.

Ilana Shabtay (03:27)

Yeah.

Mabel Peralta (03:33)

Even when I sold Jeeps, I did the same thing. I mean, my coworkers thought it was weird, because they’re like, we don’t do that. But I’m like, yeah, but I’m building a foundation for referrals. I’m building a foundation for more. And a lot of times,

the steps to the sale that are out there and some of the apps that are out there don’t cater to the luxury market. It’s the little things. I’m surprised there’s not an app that when you put in your customer, you could add little tidbits about your customer. Like, she likes the color blue and her favorite, to raise a lavender.

Don’t move like that because what happens is when your customer comes in, instead of you’re wearing a blue sweater, and the incense that you have on is lavender. So it’s like, you know what I mean? You have to really cater to your customer.

Ilana Shabtay (04:24)

Yeah.

And you don’t think the CRM, you can put that in the CRM or your team isn’t using it.

Mabel Peralta (04:32)

You know, you

know the CRM is so black and white, right. The CRM, and I’ll speak from experience  as a former procrastinating salesperson because my first two years. Yeah, my first two years were not really my best. I am not known

Ilana Shabtay (04:43)

I appreciate that adjective.

Mabel Peralta (04:53)

for always putting things in the CRM. And for a while I laid on the, I’m dyslexic, it’s hard, but then I found ways to do it. So instead of typing things in the CRM, even now as a manager, I use voice dictation. I voice everything, I transcribe it, and then I copy paste. It sounds like an extra step, but it really is just for my benefit because to sit and type, I can’t do it. I can’t.

Ilana Shabtay (05:10)

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah. Also, you can sort of do it in real

time too, right? Like if you’re with, a customer just walked away, you want to make sure you have all those notes on what, yeah.

Mabel Peralta (05:25)

Right, so even that, if,

when I used to go on test drives, I would whisper like, okay, they like this, or their favorite radio station is the Eagles on Sirius. So when they came to pick up their car, guess what was playing? Right, and I would remember things like they liked the temperature at 67 degrees, and I would just do everything, and even before the test drive, I would push the chair all the way back and down.

Ilana Shabtay (05:38)

Yeah, I love that. I love that.

Yeah.

Mabel Peralta (05:52)

and

say, me customize this for you. And then I would, I just would remember little things that made my customers happy and write it down. And yeah, you could put in the CRM,

but let’s be honest, the CRM is like the sea of no return. You put things in there and the more you add, the more those things go to the bottom and you never see it unless you scroll

Ilana Shabtay (06:13)

Yeah. I wonder

Mabel Peralta (06:15)

up.

Ilana Shabtay (06:15)

the

solution would be for, especially for a luxury dealership, where those things are so important.

Mabel Peralta (06:19)

It would be

like a some sort of good to know kind of folder. You know what mean? Like, let me click on here. These are all the tidbits I need to know. Like, top 10 things about this customer I should know and I should remember.

Ilana Shabtay (06:26)

Yeah. Yeah.

Mabel Peralta (06:33)

I hope that the CRM is when they kind of go into that, but for right now they just want the meat and potatoes of it. Age, location, what are they into, credit score. Did you make contact within 24 hours? Did they tell you to stop?

Ilana Shabtay (06:41)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah,

yeah. Well, what, OK, so two follow up questions for you. First one is, I’m sure you get solicited by vendors and software companies all the time. And how do you handle, A, is there ever something that you would want that you’re like, OK, but this isn’t even tailored for luxury, so it’s irrelevant. I wish there was a luxury version. Or how do you handle things that are just so irrelevant for your clientele that.

 it’s not worth it. Sure.

Mabel Peralta (07:20)

So I do, I get a lot. And even on LinkedIn,

I’m weary on LinkedIn because sometimes people add you as friends. And I’m like, and I smell it. I’m like, you’re gonna try to sell me something. And long and behold, right, and long and behold, how many mutual friends we have? Because if it’s less than 10, I’m a little suspicious, right?

Ilana Shabtay (07:28)

I know. Yeah.

I know. I’m always like sussing out the titles before I approve. Please just listen to me. Yeah.

Mabel Peralta (07:44)

And then what I’ve noticed is, you know, they wait at least 24 hours and then I get the long email of blah blah blah blah. We think you should…

What a lot of people don’t know and fail to realize is that we are owned by automation, this particular dealership. So what that means is I don’t deal with vendors. We have a team that does that for us. So right now, my get out of jail free card is I’m an automation dealership. Unfortunately, I cannot hire my own vendors. We do have a team. And then that’s it, right?

Ilana Shabtay (08:02)

Mm-hmm.

Right.

All centralized, that’s in

Fort Lauderdale, right? All centralized through the Fort Lauderdale office. That is a get out of jail free card, actually.

Mabel Peralta (08:24)

Yes, they’re all in Fort Lauderdale. That is, that is. And

every so often, there is one that kind of sneaks in as far as collaboration. So as far as the dealership doing something with a vendor. And I am very quick to say, look

that I love that journey for you. The idea sounds lovely, but we gotta get down to the nitty gritty. How much is this gonna cost us? Because we have a budget, and if it’s more than X, Y, Z, don’t waste your time, don’t waste my time. But I’m very honest with people that come to me as far as vendors. There are vendors that I would love, love to work with, but then it’s the double-edged sword, right?

Ilana Shabtay (08:56)

Yeah.

Mabel Peralta (09:09)

It works for my brand, but it doesn’t work for the rest of the brands that are within my organization. So it wouldn’t be fair. we have to. Right, yeah, like there’s some vendors.

Ilana Shabtay (09:18)

meaning the auto nation organization. But that’s rough,

right? Because even that, like if you go back to the hot take, auto nation has what, 300 plus stores, 40 plus OEM brands. Like how are they gonna make it work so that Aston Martin has the right solution that Toyota doesn’t necessarily need to use?

Mabel Peralta (09:43)

That’s a good question. We are the only ultra luxury exotic brand within the AutoNation umbrella. And we are one of four only standalone stores in the country.

Ilana Shabtay (09:44)

It’s good. I’m sure it comes out, but.

I didn’t know that.

Hmm.

Mabel Peralta (10:02)

and we are a very, very tiny, tiny lot. Very tiny store. I only have two salespeople. I wear two hats, so I’m the sales manager and finance manager. And for a good chunk of Q4, I was also the interim GM until we found a replacement. So we are very small. And yeah, a lot of things that may work for domestic brands or more popular brands, it just doesn’t

Translate

well for us. So there’s always every day we are learning new things right and every day we’re trying to Figure out how that square peg fit over there. How can we make it fit here? You know, what do we need? What do we need to shave off? What word adjustments do we need to make in order to  fit the mold? but at the end of the day we are still very very different we are a unicorn and that has been my whole career like we’re

Ilana Shabtay (10:38)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mabel Peralta (11:02)

always been the only one like the only one you know to do XYZ the only one to do and now in the store it’s like we are the only ones for a bevy of things and I’m like it’s just yes it’s every day it’s something new every day something new

Ilana Shabtay (11:13)

Well, it seems like you’re well equipped to handle that considering your experience. Yeah. Wow. OK, well,

dare I ask about the tariffs and how you think that’s going to affect your business, your clientele specifically? Are they going to even think about it? Like, how are you guys talking about it?

Mabel Peralta (11:34)

You know,

we again, we’re automation, right? So we have people to talk about that. In regards to the brand Aston Martin, you know, people are still talking. So when I know is when my staff knows, when my customers know, because we do have some orders and, but everyone is still in talking phases and I’m just here waiting for word.

Ilana Shabtay (11:41)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

And it’s business as usual until then.

Mabel Peralta (12:06)

It is business as usual, yeah.

Ilana Shabtay (12:08)

Okay, good. That’s good news until we hear otherwise. I hope…

Mabel Peralta (12:12)

Yeah, I’m just like,

disparate. I tell, I told my staff, know, we have to be mindful of the current state of events and we have to be mindful because we don’t only sell new assets, we sell pre-owned cars.

Ilana Shabtay (12:21)

Yeah.

Mabel Peralta (12:27)

And we have to listen to understand, right? Not to reply. So when our customers come in with any questions or any qualms or any worries, let’s just listen to them and leave our personal biases, opinions or whatnot at home, right? Just listen to your customer and say, you know what? I don’t know. I will find out for you,

and leave it at that because once you start engaging, it could go either which way. And you want your customer to leave here knowing that we’re working on it and that they are in good hands.

Ilana Shabtay (12:55)

Yeah.

Yeah, that’s good. That’s important. Again it’s all back to the clientele and what kind of experience they want and what they’re expecting when they walk in your doors. Let’s go back just to what you said when we first started the podcast about how the relationship really starts once the car is sold. I really, I love that, especially since there’s so much nurturing involved in that. Are you guys using anything specific for those email follow ups when it comes to like birthdays, anniversaries, or do you do it manually?

Mabel Peralta (13:11)

Right.

So we,

yeah, in our CRM, there were templates, right? And I’m not a fan of templates. I feel that they are just robotic. They don’t really add any human touch to it. Why not email your customer something funny about the test drive?

Ilana Shabtay (13:38)

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Mabel Peralta (13:54)

that they remember. Why not let your customer know about something else other than the conversation on the car? So I’ve told them to, if there’s a template, use that as a template, but I need you to rewrite everything.

Ilana Shabtay (13:55)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mabel Peralta (14:11)

to custom fit that customer. I had a customer the other day, he bought a DBX while we were here doing the financing. He noticed that I smoke cigars, right? Because I have the humidor here. And we’re talking about cigars. next thing you know, we’re talking about bourbon. And he told me about this one brand of rum, and you should try it. So in my follow-up email to him, like, hey, how’s your car?

Immediately he’s like, oh my god, did you try I even forgot the name of the liquor and I’m like I did it was it so, you know, it’s You have to have that connection, right? Because you never know when something could go left, meaning you could have a great test drive. Everything could go amazing They’ll buy product, they sign. They love the story. They love you. They love everything and then the car a week or two later something goes wrong

Ilana Shabtay (14:45)

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

Right.

Mabel Peralta (15:03)

And as a customer, because I’ve been there, you’re thinking, I’ve spent all this money on a car and now there’s Christmas lights. You’re angry. You’re confused. Imagine if you didn’t have a really good buying experience. Imagine if that store didn’t cater to you. Now you have to deal with these people you don’t want to deal with. When you have a good relationship, remember, you’re dating while you’re trying to sell the car. You’re married when you buy the car.

Ilana Shabtay (15:22)

Right.

I love that,

yeah.

Mabel Peralta (15:29)

Now you have that form of communication with the staff at the store where it’s like, hey, I don’t know what’s going on. And they’re going to treat you likewise, right? They’re going to be like, my God, you mean the car that happened, no worries, I got you, come in, let me see if I can get you. We don’t have a loaner here, but other stores that have loaners, right? And it’s just building that trust. So even if the car becomes a lemon God forbid, right?

Ilana Shabtay (15:46)

Yeah

Mabel Peralta (15:54)

At least the customer is still happy with you and feels comfortable with you enough and trusts you that they’re willing to buy another car. And it’s happened to me in my career where I’ve sold lemons. I’m not gonna say the brands. Domestic brand.

Ilana Shabtay (16:11)

I appreciate that. We got a little bit.

Mabel Peralta (16:13)

Yeah.

And I’ve sold the car and the car, you know, deemed a lemon, like complete buyback, complete like, my God. And because of the way I’ve treated the customer and because of, you know, how I’ve put myself out there. And I would tell the customer,

I can’t promise you anything. I can’t promise you a new car. What I’m going to promise is I’m going to work with you and I’m going to try and make this right. All right. But  my stretch could only go so far. So I have to get other people involved. And yeah, they bought another, the same exact car again, even though the one that they just bought completely was just a hot mess. But it’s how you treat your customers.

Ilana Shabtay (16:44)

Yeah.

Yeah,

so just finding a way to help dealers, especially high-end dealers, do that.

Mabel Peralta (17:03)

It’s doing it with

a little bit of empathy and compassion. People think that those two words mean you’re weak. It doesn’t mean you’re weak, it actually means you’re strong. If you could sell and if you can negotiate in the automotive industry with a little bit of compassion and a little bit of empathy and you listen to understand, which is huge, it goes a long way and it doesn’t mean you’re weak, it just means that you’re empathetic. It means that you care about your customer. Because if you don’t care…

Ilana Shabtay (17:31)

And it just means you’re going to get more business,

which is at the end of the day, the strongest you could be in the industry.

Mabel Peralta (17:33)

Great.

Right, so like not caring about your customer, what does that do for you in the long term? Do think they’re gonna come back and buy from you? That’s not. I have customers that I sold 10 years ago that still contact me for Volvo’s. Like, and they’re on their fifth one. Like I need a car or my neighbor needs a car. And I have people calling me, not even for Volvo’s or anything, but like just car questions in general.

Ilana Shabtay (17:40)

Right.

Mabel Peralta (18:00)

you know, this is happening with my car or hey, I went to this one dealership and this is what they said, is that true or this is how they treated me, is that fair? Because they look at me as an advocate and that’s what you want. You want people at your showrooms, whether it’s luxury or not, to be advocates, not only for you and the brand and the store, but also for their customers.

Ilana Shabtay (18:23)

Yeah,

100%. I love that. Well, thank you so much. I knew you would be the right person to have this discussion. Sounds like you’re doing some really interesting things. Appreciate your time, Mabel. I’m so happy I got to spend just even a little bit of time with you, and I hope we can meet in person. And for our listeners, this is Dealer Confidential. If you like this episode, please tune in. You can find us on all your favorite streaming outlets. Thank you again, and thank you, Mabel.

Mabel Peralta (18:34)

Thank you.

Thank you. Bye.