We are all ‘Start-Ups’ now

Showrooms may be re-opening, but it is to an entirely different market to the one that we were in just a few short weeks ago. In that time, change has happened on an unprecedented scale affecting peoples’ lives, businesses, the way we communicate and much more.

As doors re-open, I am encouraged by the prospect that we are all start-ups in this changed operating environment. To use a phrase from my time in the USA many years back, we have the opportunity of a ‘do-over’.  One of the online dictionaries defines a do-over as:

“A chance of doing something for a second or further time, after an unsuccessful or unsatisfactory first attempt,”

I’m mindful that this to many people in motor retailing that this may sound somewhat harsh. No offence is intended. What I do, very consciously want to convey is the sense that there was much we can all recognise we would have done differently in the ever-faster developing motor retail environment if we had the ideal circumstances. Somehow the stars were never fully aligned.

Now, can be that moment, if we choose.

Without question, we could step straight back into the old ways, but in all conscience, we must recognise that from a strategic perspective; political, economic, social, technical, environmental and legal (PESTEL) much has changed and so much more will change. It is time to reinvent motor retailing to;

Get leaner, get closer to customer needs, reduce the friction between dealer and customer with so many competing disruptive players clogging the process, get more relevant in what is a digital marketplace and much more.

Thinking of ourselves as a ‘start-up’, we must revisit our purpose:

In short, it is to bring car buyers and dealers together through finance in a way that provides a win win win situation for all parties.

This is everything that MotoNovo and findandfundmycar stand for and in the weeks ahead we will continue the re-energisation of our purpose that has seen us so prominently supporting dealers through the challenging times of recent weeks.

As a ‘start-up’ dealer in this changed operating environment, we hope our type of collaborative Triple Win ethos sounds like a business you would choose to work alongside.

Karl Werner

Deputy CEO