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The Walk Around Podcast

Time Icon S2E01 Date Icon Apr 25, 2022 Time Icon 25:30

Pivoting in a Pandemic: How Avis Budget Group Manages to Maximize Every Opportunity

Special Guest - Douglas Campbell

What could an uber-successful head of fleet services for a car rental group teach you and your dealership about thriving in an upside-down automotive environment? Turns out, a lot!

Douglas Campbell, Head of Fleet Services for the Americas with Avis Budget Group shares insights he’s learned through the course of a winding automotive career that led him from the “box to the boardroom.” These tools could change your career trajectory forever.

In this episode, Douglas, Elliot and Marc share insights and answer questions like:

  • How has Avis achieved profitability up 100% year-over-year in such a challenging environment, when most companies are trying to stay alive?
  • How did relationships with OEMs make a difference in being able to “pivot” in these challenging times?
  • What’s your acquisition strategy in such an upside-down used vehicle market?
  • What advice would you give an aspiring retail associate on how to make the leap from retail sales to the boardroom or the executive table?
  • If you had to do your career over again, what would you have done differently?

Douglas shares his personal story and choices he wishes he’d made during his retail automotive career -- advice that can help get you where you want to go, faster. He explained that if he could do it all over again, he would "go through F&I and take that as far as [he could]," which would leave the doors "wide open for what you could do." He also recommends spending more time in the used car side of the house, because "used cars make everything float."

For more about Douglas, visit his LinkedIn Profile.

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