is the new state of the art, giving consumers something they probably wouldn’t have even thought of before, ultimate control of their vehicle from virtually anywhere around the world. From checking the status of their vehicle, to sharing the vehicle’s location on Facebook, Directed provides security and control for your vehicle that is cutting edge and in tune with the other aspects of new and integral technology in our lives. A part of our new vision going forward as a company encompasses a new purpose for our consumers: that is, making life more secure, comfortable, convenient and fun, in and around their vehicles.
ME: Obviously the industry has changed to embrace Internet social networking and the portable lifestyle. What is your company doing to participate in this landscape to benefit your retailers? Jardin: Great question. I am glad to see you are linking the three: social networking, portable lifestyle and the benefit to our retailers. Let’s face it, from forums to Facebook, we all enjoy this new way of being connected to one another, but that in itself isn’t enough to drive business and benefit our retailers. It’s how you link the three aforementioned parts that truly
can be demonstrated from your employees’ smartphones. And third, use this as an opener with every consumer, even if they do not have a smartphone, showing them how you can interact with the device and car (from music to control). This establishes new needs that will help you rapidly grow your business.
ME: As a company directly affected by a less–than–anticipated remote start season, what are you telling your dealers to help them remain profitable? Jardin: As mentioned before, focus on the need, not the product. The weather could’ve had an adverse effect on business this winter, but it didn’t stop our retailers from having a great year. Directed SmartStart helped our retailers capture new sales during the holiday season. Establishing a need for a year-round product that controls a vehicle, as opposed to a single product such as a remote start linked to cold weather, made that possible. It’s all about creating innovative products that consumers connect with and see the intrinsic value of. That goes back to our enhanced focus on new products.
As is often the case, it’s what’s best for us and it will create the most value for our dealers. By leveraging the power of our brands and investing our energy in growing these thriving businesses, we are able to continue to drive consumers into our dealers’ stores.”
matters. In 2008 we asked ourselves the same question, and as we always do we went to our retailers for key insight. Driving new consumers to their store was key in the social network ecosystem. This is one of the main reasons why we developed Directed SmartStart. Creating and making available the “free app” captures new consumers and drives them directly to our retailers. The success of it can easily be measured by the fact that we are rapidly closing in on 1.5 million downloads of the SmartStart app.
ME: As an industry veteran, and not as Directed, where do you feel the largest opportunities for growth lie for retailers this year? Jardin: We need to focus on the “need,” not the “product.” When a car rolls in, it is our habit to immediately fixate on what we can first do to the car and then sell the consumer the products that we think they want. We’re not focusing on the consumer properly. Retailers that understand the consumers’ needs first are winning big. It is simple: more than 50 percent of Americans now have a smartphone; they want to have increased connectivity via their smartphone. This new area of technological convenience is powerful, turning wants into needs, and any needs you can establish becomes an easy sell. How can you take advantage of this? There are easy ways. First, encourage every member of your sales team to have a smartphone. Second, make sure all of the smartphone solutions you offer in the store
ME: One of the themes we picked up on at CES this year was
the carmakers’ push to not necessarily show new designs but new technology and a connected driving experience. If this is an accurate future, how do you see Directed being part of this landscape in the long run? Jardin: There are really two questions, one that is implied, and I would like to address both. That is, OEMs are focusing on the connected driving experience—is this good or bad for the industry? It may not seem so, but this is great for the industry. Consumers are being introduced to new technologies that help them identify something that is essential to their daily lives, and they’re usually limited to a specific vehicle platform. Consumers who don’t own those vehicles will ask: “How can I get that for my car?” Our task in the aftermarket is always to find new solutions.
Every year there’s going to be some technical hurdle. You engineer through it. Products like SmartStart give an even broader base of consumers what they want and need. Doing that is one of the very best ways we help our retailers. They get a set new of customers that they can now provide a customized solution for, regardless of the vehicle they drive. To answer your explicit question about Directed going forward:
clearly we will be a major part of this landscape in the long run. For over 30 years we have defined state of the art for our industry and we envision a bright future for our retailers who in turn help our consumers’ get the security, convenience, comfort and, yes, fun as it relates to their vehicles. ■
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