Business View - July 2015 111
Before partnering with Price, Adam Simms had served
as a District Sales Manager in Jim Moran’s Southeast
Toyota organization. He later became a Vice President
at AutoNation, the Hall Auto Group, and the Walser
Auto Group. Adams also was an early believer in the
power of the internet to sell automobiles. He founded
two innovative businesses: iMotors.com, the industry's
largest online used vehicle marketing and sales orga-
nization, and Responselogix, a technology company
focused on internet lead-response and ongoing follow-
up solutions.
In 2003, Price and Simms joined forces and purchased
a poorly performing – ranked 33rd out of 58 stores –
Toyota dealership in Sunnyvale, when its owner decid-
ed he was better off selling than investing more money
into the business. Over the next four years, under Price
Simms, that mediocre Toyota dealership went from
33rd in volume to number one in northern California.
That achievement was repeated three years in a row,
something that had never been accomplished before.
Shum picks up the narrative: “So we took all of the
processes and systems and things that we do differ-
ently than everybody else, which at the time, was a
very huge focus on selling cars in the digital world.”
In addition, the PriceSimms team also developed a di-
rect sales department, “sort of a one-stop-shop” for
the consumer. Shum explains: “Sixty-five percent of
the volume that’s delivered out of this store is through
someone that takes your email lead, your chat request,
or your phone call, and handles the transaction from
start to finish. You only have to deal with one person
who will quote your pricing, quote your interest rate,
payments, terms, find you the car, and deliver the car.
It’s a transparent process of transacting upfront. That
really propelled us into becoming that largest selling
store.”
Buoyed by the dealership’s success, Price and Simms
decided that they would look for opportunities to ex-
pand. They already had a proven system that had sold
a lot of cars; they also had many trained employees
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
The Price Simms Auto Group
WHAT:
A family-owned group of automobile
dealerships with brands ranging from Hyundai to
McLaren.
WHERE:
The greater San Francisco Bay Area in
Northern California
WEBSITE
:
AUTOMOTIVE
