Q&A with 2021 NADA chairman Paul Walser

Minnesota dealer Paul Walser will become the 2021 chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association during this week’s NADA Show 2021.

Below is an emailed Q&A with Walser, who succeeds 2020 chairman Rhett Ricart. 

Auto Remarketing: What are your top priorities as NADA Chairman in 2021? 

Paul Walser: I have four main priorities during my chairmanship. The first is ensuring a smooth transition and onboarding of our new NADA president and CEO Mike Stanton.

The second is enhancing dealer engagement with the organization. I think if every single dealer in the country knew what I now know, after my involvement in this association, I think dealer engagement would skyrocket. We all get focused in running our stores and doing what we do, and we kind of take for granted that there’s somebody out there that’s representing our interest in protecting and preserving our franchise system. And there are still too many dealers who do not know the full extent of what NADA does and how important the work is. And if we’re going to be really great at doing the work of this industry, we need engagement.

My third priority is offering dealers robust solutions related to the challenges dealers face with diversity. Despite strong efforts by OEMs, dealers and other industry stakeholders, racial and gender diversity remain relatively stagnant. I want to offer dealers tools to ensure a more diverse population into our businesses and enhance our mentoring and training so when folks are given the opportunity to become dealers, they will be successful. This is not only a moral objective, but it is good for our industry and our whole franchise system.

My final priority is improving our dealer-OEM relations. I want to look at the relationship through a different lens, through the lens of the customer. I want dealers and OEMs to collaborate and create the experience customers want. If we do that successfully, OEMs using the franchise dealer body will have an event bigger advantage.

AR: What are some of the most pressing legislative/political issues in Washington, D.C., that you believe are most pertinent to new-car franchise dealers? 

Walser: This may sound like a strange answer, but the truth is that NADA is primarily concerned with and focused on the same thing today as we were last year, which is ensuring that policymakers and elected officials understand our business model, understand the significant economic contributions dealerships make to thousands of local communities — including 1 million good-paying jobs, 18.8% of all U.S. retail sales, and more than $90 billion in state sales taxes annually — and support our ability to do business, take care of our employees, and serve our customers.

And whenever there is a change in administration or a new Congress — and today we have both — it means we have a lot of work to do in terms of sitting down with new policymakers, and making sure we have a seat at the table whenever policies are being proposed that could have an impact on our ability to do business and take care of our customers.

AR: Including NADA, the association leadership in the auto industry is quite active. What are some ways you partner with fellow auto industry trade associations like NIADA, NAAA, NAMAD, AIADA, etc.? 

Walser: NADA has a long history of working alongside our “sister” dealer associations and other close industry stakeholders in the best interest of our members and our customers. There are two great recent examples, of many over the years, of this in action. The first is when NADA partnered with NAMAD and AIADA on the Fair Credit Compliance Policy and Program, a voluntary program that addresses fair credit concerns in auto financing while preserving dealer discounts. The second example is our ongoing work with NAMAD on diversity in auto retailing. As you may know, part of NAMAD’s core mission is to increase the number of minority dealers. NADA fully supports that mission, and we supplement it by lending our resources and ensuring that our dealer education, training and consulting programs help those dealers succeed and hopefully proliferate.

AR: Digital retail has been a key focus for dealers in recent years, but 2020 has perhaps been the tipping point. What are some best practices/strong strategies around digital retail you’ve seen from your fellow dealers? 

Walser: The strongest strategy for dealers to adopt in regard to digital retailing is continuous adaptation. Change has been accelerated more than ever before, and will continue moving towards an Amazon-like experience. As dealers, we need to keep up to meet customers’ demand and be ready to take our showrooms to them.
In that same vein, not all customers will want to transact online, and we will need to adapt to each customer’s comfort level with doing so.

AR: NADA Show 2021 is all-digital. While that’s certainly a change, what are some show highlights that folks should be excited about? 

Walser: NADA’s first-ever virtual Show will really be another feather in our cap. Given the virtual format, we are excited to have more folks be able to participate than ever before. This will give us all the opportunity to learn from more dealers and the content will be better than ever.

AR: Looking further out, what has to happen for NADA Show 2022 to resume being a traditional in-person show? 

Walser: A safe environment is absolutely necessary to resuming an in-person format for NADA Show. I’m hopeful that with the dissemination of a COVID vaccine, we will be able to hold the Show in-person in Las Vegas in 2022.