Interview with Dick Potter | Compli.com

Interview with Dick Potter

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Article: Interview with Dick Potter

Article Date: Thursday, September 20, 2007

Article Source: AutoPeople Weekly

Press-Release-20070920-APW-Dick-Potter-Interview.pdf

IN THE HIGHBEAMS Interview with Dick Potter

Automotive Information Network, Inc.
425 Thirty Second Street, Manhattan Beach, California 90266 • Ph: 310.265.2225 • Fx: 310.796.4591 • Email: advertisers@automotivedigest.com
Interview with Dick Potter,
SVP of Sales & Marketing, Compli

Ted: Please tell our readers a bit about the history of Compli.

Potter: Compli began as an idea among a group of employment attorneys to develop a Web-based compliance management software system. They were looking for ways to address their client's growing regulatory issues flowing from local, state and federal agencies back in 1999. The Compli version 1.0 compliance application was built and released in 2002, and today we're currently on release 4.0. Previously, we provided compliance management to several vertical markets, but decided in 2005 that we would focus all of our resources and attention on the auto dealer marketplace.

Ted: How much has Compli grown in the past couple of years?

Potter: In actuality, in the last two and a half years, we have grown from one dealership, eight locations, and 650 users to over 440 locations across 26 states with over 36,000 users in the automotive space. In addition, we are also very proud to be working with nine of the top 100 dealer groups in the country, along with several of the best recognized legal content providers in their respective field of endeavor. As you can see from our growth, we've definitely tapped a growing need among dealerships to automate and simplify their compliance efforts.

How Compli Helps Dealers

Ted: What are some of the ways that Compli's Dealership Compliance Management System benefits dealers?

Potter: First of all, at a high level, we help protect dealer assets through the use of a “good-faith” framework. The Web-based DCMS automates, streamlines, and improves document handling, which impacts the overall productivity of a dealership. Finally, by reducing costs associated with document management, administration, legal exposure, and by improving insurance ratings, we contribute to the increased profitability of the dealership.
Our focus on protecting the dealerships from the many forces that drive their compliance efforts has many benefits. Perhaps the biggest benefit of the DCMS is the blanket of protection from liabilities that regulatory-driven compliance creates. These liabilities can range from individual bad acts to out-of-compliance advertisements.

Ted: So how does that actually work?

Potter: Our approach provides the necessary content, technology and expertise to immediately create a comprehensive good-faith compliance effort at a dealership to address items such as harassment and discrimination, GLBA, OFAC, and money laundering. These have consistently been proven to be the highest risk areas for dealers. With an average dealership gross profit of 1.5%, and shrinking, every dollar of expense saved by using the Compli solution can result in $25 to $50 in equivalent sales dollars on the top line. By automating much of the logistics associated with inconsistent paper-based manual compliance efforts, dealerships can experience overhead and direct cost reductions off the bottom line.

Ted: What are the different stages in Compli's Prescriptive Road Map to Compliance Management? After how much time does each of these stages occur?

Potter: There are six programs in Compli's Initiative Road Map to Compliance. They include hiring and turnover, employment practices, consumer information, sales and F&I, dealership operations, and environmental health and safety. These programs represent the vast majority of expert content that Compli can bring to best fit the needs of our dealerships. Upon implementation, Compli provides content critical to core dealership operations such as personnel management and sales compliance.
Once these core programs are implemented, the dealership may either follow our initiative road map, or create their own initiative based on their dealership's individual needs. Our experience has been that most dealerships want to focus on what they do best, which is selling vehicles, and let Compli do what they do best, which is dealer compliance. Generally speaking, each of Compli's initiatives are stand alone programs that can
be started one at a time or in tandem with the rest.

Ted: Who are some of your partners? Who are some of your customers?

Potter: In the sales and F&I space, a few of our partners include Hudson Cook, Auto Advisory Services and Venable. We partner with Fisher and Phillips for their employment practices expertise, and in dealership operations we are working with partners such as Dixon
Hughes, Crowe Chizek and Lane Gorman Trubitt. For environmental health and safety, we partner with Fisher and Phillips as well as AD-COMP. 
Some of our customers include Checkered Flag, Kendall Auto Group, Mossy Automotive Group, West Herr, Kuni Automotive, Lanphere Auto Group, and Younger Toyota, just to name a few. 

Some Dealers Save Over $20K with Compli

Ted: Any recent success stories you'd like to share with us?

Potter: Most recently, a Florida group avoided $28,000 in additional penalties by demonstrating to regulators that they had taken immediate and effective remediation steps via the Compli system to address a cash reporting shortfall. Also a large, single point dealer saved $23,000 annually by changing his insurance carrier to one that recognized the value of aggressive compliance and risk management practices.

Ted: That's pretty impressive.

Potter: Yes, and the client attributed a significant amount of the savings to the Compli system and process. Additionally, a California dealership has reduced their worker's compensation by tens of thousands of dollars by implementing the Compli system. There are dozens of references where clients have avoided costs, reduced claims and judgments and streamlined operations for higher productivity by implementing
Compli's good-faith compliance applications.

Ted: Please tell us about your history. What are some of the positions you've held before this one?

Potter: Before coming to Compli, I was Vice President of Sales and Marketing for a business and tax consulting company. Prior to that, I spent a number of years at Deloitte Consulting. I held senior positions with Deloitte Consulting, Ryder Integrated Logistics and the Eastman Kodak Company. I hold an MBA from Northwestern University. 

Ted: What do you like to do in your free time?

Potter: Anything to do with outdoor sports. I love to play tennis, golf and enjoy reading history.