CARY, N.C. -

As part of Auto Remarketing's 2020 Best Auto Auctions to Work For program, we are featuring Q&As with leaders from some of the honorees. 

Next up is Bruce Thompson, founder and chief executive officer of CarOffer, one of this year's honorees. 

That Q&A, available to CMG Premium subscribers, can be found below.

Auto Remarketing: Workplace safety has been a big topic in the auto auction industry, particularly for the traditional brick-and-mortar auctions where cars are running through the lanes. How does an adherence to workplace safety manifest differently in the digital wholesale space, where sales tend to be remote?

Bruce Thompson: For us, CarOffer needs to mean it’s not just a better, more efficient way to buy, sell and trade used inventory; it needs to work and it needs to be safe. Especially in times when the world seems to stop and it’s the only available option for dealers to acquire inventory.

Being a tech company, we were well-positioned to pivot to a remote working situation at the onset of the pandemic literally overnight so, fortunately, we didn’t miss a beat on product development, client servicing or trading opportunities. When we were able and ready to welcome team members back to the physical office, we followed all CDC recommendations for health and safety protocols.

But our team extends well beyond the people in our headquarters; we have a complex supply chain that we heavily rely on to get cars to dealers’ lots, which includes transportation, condition reporting, inspections and other logistical details. We handle this so our clients don’t have to, and we collaborated closely with our third-party partners to ensure and optimize health and safety protocols at every stage so dealers could safely and reliably stock their lots.

AR: How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted your safety strategy?

BT: The pandemic and sheltering in place requirements served to remind us of how nimble we are as a company. I am extremely proud of and grateful for our team who adapted to change so seamlessly.

In every crisis situation, there is opportunity to improve one’s response and preparedness strategy. Since our business is inventory management, one of the biggest challenges we faced was managing inconsistent protocols in different states. So, access to some critical services like state inspections, for instance, were delayed. How can we ensure the process continues to move forward during a safety or health issue? We are exploring all aspects of our operations to fine tune the preparedness. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s never say never, and keep your crisis plan up to date!

AR: Training and development are key in any organization, but I imagine it’s especially challenging in the digital wholesale space. What have been some effective approaches you have taken when it comes to training and developing employees?

BT: It is common in tech companies to have daily stand-ups, or scrums, because the pace of product development is so fast and constant communication among team members enables swift action. We conduct these informal sessions at CarOffer as it creates a valuable setting for knowledge sharing, collaboration and platform improvements. While nothing is better than the in-person version of a stand-up, we were able to move them to a virtual format which not only kept the work moving along, but it kept our team connected at a time when people felt very isolated.

Training and development are critical to the success of CarOffer — it not only keeps our technology advancing and competitive, but it creates opportunities for our employees to grow and learn and accept new challenges. We strive to create a culture of knowledge-sharing by doing things like role playing how to sell a certain feature or handle a situation, or relaying client needs with the software engineers so we can enhance the platform. And we bring new team members into this culture Day 1. It helps all of us to be better at what we do, regardless of our position or tenure with the company.  

AR: This year’s program had some particularly strong scores with supervisor relationship and overall employee engagement. What are some ways your organization fosters positive professional relationships between supervisors and employees? 

BT: The CarOffer leadership team is involved in the day-to-day workflow of our operations. We support transparency and have an open-door policy which is well utilized. Because we are growing at such a rapid pace, this culture fosters onboarding and immersion of new employees.

During the strict work-at-home period, we brought our accessibility and open-door policy online and held all-hands meetings weekly, which provided a continuum of connection and engagement while people were not physically together.