Welcome to another episode of our podcast, hosted by Emmanuel Scuto, the CEO and founder of WeYield, the leading revenue management company specializing in the car rental industry.
In this episode Emmnauel sits down with Jared Kinnaird, Revenue and Operation Director at Tom Wood Automotive, a Sixt franchisee in the USA. They discuss innovative approaches to revenue management and operational efficiency that helped navigate the tumultuous periods of the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Key Discussion Topics:

Crisis Management Lessons: Insights from the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting effective strategies to face economic downturns.

Profitability over Utilization: Jared emphasizes the importance of focusing on the revenue per unit per month rather than fleet utilization to maximize profitability.

Operational Adjustments: During COVID-19, Tom Wood Automotive adopted a four-day workweek to cut costs without resorting to layoffs, maintaining fleet size to leverage post-crisis opportunities.

Revenue Management: Shifting focus from high fleet utilization to maximizing daily revenue per car. In 2019, this strategy led to a significant increase in rental revenue at Minneapolis airport, with rental days up 16% and rental revenue up 120%.

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Innovative Practices at Tom Wood Automotive:

Fleet Management: Opting for a smaller, better-maintained fleet allows for higher rental rates and reduced operational costs.

Pricing Strategy: Adapting prices based on fleet size and market demand to ensure higher profitability per transaction.

Revenue Optimization: Introduction of the RevCar indicator (revenue per available car) in WeYield apps to monitor performance directly.

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Jared Kinnaird’s Insights:

Jared’s approach focuses on improving the revenue per unit each month, by optimizing both pricing and fleet management to enhance profitability.

He shares management strategies such as the "level-10" organizational meeting, which focuses on maximizing operational efficiency and revenue.

📌 Here's a glimpse into the enriching discussion:

• 0:00:00 to 0:07:00 introduction of Jared Kinnaird
• 0:05:10 to 0:14:20 Learnings from 2008 crisis to prepare 2020-21 Covid
• 0:14:20 to 0:19:00 Car market perspective on the used car
• 0:19:00 to 0:36:15 Yield stragegy: reduce utilization to maximize profit. Learn how
• 0:36:15 to 0:46:00 The management shifted his mindset on making more money on revenue per unit instead of focusing on utilization
• 0:51:05 to 0:59:00 "level-10" organizational meeting
• 0:55:30 to 1:20:15 Jared's revenue and general management tips
• 1:20:15 to end Peer to peer market evolution