Auto Remarketing is recognizing the 2022 Women in Retail honorees in the current issue of the magazine and at Used Car Week this fall in San Diego.
With these awards, we specifically recognize top leaders on the retail side of the auto industry, including honorees from dealerships, dealer groups and third-party providers/vendors
Over the next few weeks, AR will be posting Q&As with each of the honorees on this website.
First up is Kerri Watkins, who is chief financial officer at Watkins Auto Sales.
Auto Remarketing: What do you enjoy most about working in retail automotive, and what would you change?
Kerri Watkins: As everyone knows the automotive industry changes daily, with the wind as many would say. The thing that I enjoy most is that every day I get to work with the best business partner: my husband. We get to face each challenge together, as well as celebrate each success together. Our daughter (Chloe, 12 years old) has been raised in the business from birth and to see her learning and becoming interested in the business has been very rewarding.
Many nights, she has fallen asleep on the floor at my feet as we worked late nights at the dealership. We know we are teaching her that hard work pays off , and if you dream it, be prepared to work for it. We have also taught her to always shoot for the moon and worst case you land among the stars. Our goal has always been to create a family environment for our employees. I often say we don’t have employees; we have a team of family.
Seeing our employees excel and learn new skills is so rewarding and such an important part of our success, but also our joy as business owners. Lastly, but as equally important, is seeing our customers that are not customers, but part of the #ridewithWATKINS family. I don’t want a customer to feel like they are a customer, but rather part of our WATKINS family. The thing I would love to change is the negative reputation that is associated with buy-here, pay-here dealers.
AR: What is the top trend you’re watching in retail automotive this year?
Watkins: Inventory availability and cost, hands down. As we all know, what goes up, must come down. We have seen inflated pricing and values since the beginning of the pandemic. In May, we saw that trend begin to reverse as values took a signifi cant hit, and will continue to do so.
A low turn rate on inventory will help dealers mitigate the loss on this trend that we all knew was coming, but it will affect us all for a few months in the near future.
AR: What piece of career advice would you give your younger self?
Watkins: One of my favorite quotes is “sometimes you have to fall before you learn to fly.”
I wish I had learned that earlier. Its ok to fall, its ok to fail as long as you learn to fly. Sometimes it’s not about the “learning” but the WILL. As the mother of a strongwilled daughter and the wife of a dedicated business partner, what I hope that we are teaching and what I wish I had learned is the sky is NOT the limit. Learn to soar above the sky of our dreams. But the dreams don’t come easy. I want to pass along to our daughter what I wish I had known: you may fall, you may fail, but success comes from learning to soar!
The other advice I live by is that I am never too old to stop learning. I am so thankful and blessed to be part of such a wonderful community of peers that I learn from each day. When we think we know it all, is when we learn we really don’t!
AR: What has been the top key to your success in retail automotive?
Watkins: This is a very difficult question for me to answer.
There have been so keys to our success. I was raised never to think “if” but “when,” so I always believed I could do anything I set my mind to. This hasn’t changed at all, and sometimes it makes me take on more than I should. Family, friends, a wonderful team of employees, lenders, industry relationships: they all are part of our success, and without each we would be nothing. So, there is no “top” key. We have a wonderful group of partners that are such an integral part of our business each day.
Source : AutoFinanceNews
