CARY, N.C. -

Auto Remarketing is recognizing the 2021 Women in Remarketing honorees in the March issue of the magazine, and will be posting Q&As with each of these outstanding leaders on the website.

Next up is Britney Egbert of Dealers Auto Auction of Idaho. 

Auto Remarketing: What do you enjoy most about working in the remarketing industry? But, also, what aspects of the business would you change and how?

Britney Egbert: I really enjoy the challenge each new account brings. At our auction, we strive to provide individualized service to each client. We understand that everyone has different things they need to be successful, and we want to help make that possible.

With that being said, not having everything be standardized can make things more difficult in trying to provide that excellent customer service we try so hard for. The industry is working on standardizing certain aspects, but trying to standardize everything just isn’t possible. So where it gives us an area to shine, it is also what makes the job that much more difficult.

AR: What are some improvements that need to be made in the industry from a diversity and inclusion perspective? What are some examples you’ve seen of D&I programs that have worked?

BE: I think a challenge in the industry right now is how to foster more successful women in remarketing who are trying to balance home life with work. I know for me, personally, I didn’t think I could fully do my job and still spend time at home with my children. So, I decided to take a step back from a full time roll in our fleet/lease office to a part-time position. I just didn’t feel like I could maintain the relationships with traveling the country and the daily customer service that is needed.

When my children are a little older, I would love to step back into remarketing in a more engaging way. But for now, I’m happy to assist our fleet/lease manager when I can, and help the customers I still work with as best I can. I think the conferences are a good way to stay in touch periodically throughout the year, because taking a couple years off in this job is tough.

Remarketers can switch roles or companies, and it is a full-time commitment to make sure you are staying relevant in the industry. Because if you aren’t in front of your customer, your competition probably is. I’d like to see more, smaller, group sessions in the conferences so you can have an opportunity to have group discussions and speak with customers and vendors a little easier.

The bigger the conferences get, the tougher it is to get in front of the people you traveled all that way to see. As a woman trying to balance work and home, having this close interaction opportunity would definitely help with being a more productive employee and save me from making several trips across the country to visit customers and miss time with my family. 

AR: Describe a time when you were either a mentor or a mentee, and how that has shaped your career.

BE: I have been both a mentor and a mentee when it comes to the remarketing industry. I was lucky enough to be trained by our owner, who is also my father, at the age of 22 when I graduated college and came home to work for the family business. He taught me the importance of building genuine relationships and following through on my promises. He always made sure I knew to put the customer first with both words and actions.

After seven years in the main role of fleet/lease manager I decided to go to part time after having my first son. With this came training my brother-in-law to take over. It was difficult at first to put the accounts and relationships I had built in someone else’s hands, but I knew that with the same kind of mentorship I had, he could do it.

It was very different being in the senior role and trying to teach what I had learned over the years, but it really helped put into perspective all the hard work it really does take to make this position work. And thanks to his hard work, Alex, has been able to grow our fleet business more and more each year! He was even named one of the industry’s 40 under 40 this year!

AR: Describe a time in your career where you were challenged and how you overcame that challenge.

BE: I think one of the most challenging aspects is when you have a disagreement with a customer. Let’s face it, even if you have the best relationship, there will come a time when you disagree. It’s so hard to balance the customer is always right mentality with how you think the job could be done best. When you don’t see eye to eye, it’s important to have really good communication.

Being able to communicate without fear of losing an account really makes for the best relationships. I think open dialogue creates the best opportunity for you and the customer to be successful. We have to feel like it’s a partnership where our opinion in the industry is valued and listened to.

We might not always be right, which is why it’s so important to be able to have those conversations with our customers. In my particular case, it took being able to see the customer in person, walking around their cars and getting a better idea of what was important to them. I had to understand that it might not seem like an issue to me at first, but to them it was crucial. Being able to communicate this without letting emotions get in the way was what helped us solve the problem and learn what to expect for the next run of cars.

AR: What is the top trend/storyline in the remarketing industry that you’re watching this year?

BE: There are so many storylines to keep an eye on this year: stimulus checks, repossessions being delayed due to COVID-19, possible minimum wage hikes, just to name few.

Personally, I’d like to keep an eye on the wave of repossessions most likely coming down the pipeline. I know many companies have waited longer than normal to repossess a car due to COVID and possible job losses. But on top of that, we have people receiving stimulus checks, who are purchasing cars they most likely won’t be able to afford in this next year.

So not only do we have the older repos coming in, but another wave this year from those who used stimulus money to purchase a vehicle. This will create challenges in making sure we can do our jobs right. We need to have the transport trucks available to move the cars, the yard space to store them, employees to do condition reports, get them cleaned, and office staff to handle titles and payments. It’s a wave we hope to be ahead of in order to keep our customers happy. Their jobs will get more difficult, as well, if these cars all start to get repossessed at the same time.

AR: What is something you would tell your younger self if you could go back to when you started your career in remarketing?

BE: If I could go back and tell my younger self anything it would be to be more confident in myself. To be confident, and to remember to always be myself. This industry is very relationship-driven, but the best relationships are born out of being genuine.

Those are the business relationships that last. When both sides feel like there is a real trust and honest interest. You can only fake it for so long, so if you want to be successful long term, your customers, employees and vendors need to feel like they can rely on you, and they need to know the real you to be able to do that.

When you have that trust, the relationship can build into a lasting one. And when you have that kind of relationship, you can really start to see the success build for both you and the customer.