Your friend in the trade
It seems that many dealers still don’t fully 'get' this social media thing and, perhaps more importantly, how it could benefit their business. Interestingly most car businesses today will be on Facebook and Twitter and will update their sites with classified ads, promotions and special offers but ask them to commit resource to actually using the … [Read more...]
There appear to be increasing numbers of people deciding that car ownership has just simply become too expensive. What with the rise in VAT, ever increasing fuel charges, retail price hikes and even rises in the cost of insurance and vehicle excise duty has meant that many people have just decided enough is enough. The new car sales figures for … [Read more...]
The various challenges facing dealers this year are well documented but the customer experience is seen by many as the key to keeping ahead of the competition. Many dealer groups are investing heavily in training for sales personnel and a good number are meeting the aftersales challenge by acknowledging the need for more sales oriented staff in … [Read more...]
The competition for car servicing business is a battle that looks set to continue for quite some time yet. Repairers like Kwik-Fit and Halfords are striving to present car drivers with a real choice when considering their options at service time. However it looks as if franchised dealers are finally facing up to the battle. Having taken … [Read more...]
I’m not going out on a limb when I say that customers negotiating on buying a new or used car today are in a better position than they have ever been. They have access to much more detailed information and with most dealers advertising the cars on-line there is certainly more transparency in how sales people attempt to sell cars. The recent … [Read more...]
When travelling around the dealerships of the UK, it fascinates me how differently they all run and it is almost always the busy happy ones that are the most successful. It may seem obvious but smiling happy personnel who actually look like they enjoy being there can make the world of difference, especially in tougher times like now. I was in … [Read more...]
Whilst talking to a sales manager incognito at a local main dealer earlier this week, I asked him how business was generally and about his fears for the coming months. “It is what it is” he replied somewhat dolefully, “we will just have to face whatever comes at us and deal with it”. Clearly customers who have become so much more … [Read more...]
The storm before the lull is how one of our car dealer colleagues describes what is happening at present. He suggests that the rise in showroom traffic and unseasonably high sales order take is basically down to squeezing the last bit of goodness from the success story of last two years. With all the offers about and the hype surrounding the VAT … [Read more...]
Franchised dealer groups are set to up the ante when it comes to acquiring stock. Having traditionally relied upon the part-exchange route to generate retail stock they have realised that, as the new car market has shrunk, there are likely to be less quality cars to re-sell on the market. Having stood by and watched the rise of car buying sites … [Read more...]
When the economy is suffering like it is right now, we all look for more value, and as much as we can get for our pound. We don’t like wasting money and we certainly don’t like giving it away for poor quality products or services. In the car business it’s really not that difficult for a good situation to turn bad quite quickly, all it … [Read more...]
In challenging trading conditions we do tend to see the cream rise to the top so to speak. In car retailing as less customers are in the market sales people have to work harder to generate sales from a smaller lead base. Converting enquiries to appointments is a skill which requires training and experience and relies on everybody in the chain … [Read more...]
Whilst all and sundry are worrying and fretting about cost savings and cuts, we need to start looking at ways of making car buying and maintenance as cost effective as possible. Here are some simple tips and advice when considering where to go. Car dealers are battling hard for your business always make an offer whether it is to buy a car have a … [Read more...]
The car sales process has been developed over many years and evolves with each new generation of sales teams, new products coming to the market and the need to develop new income streams and profit centres. The fundamental process has remained the same, however, and is designed with only one objective: to separate you from your money (and, of … [Read more...]
What is it about some car salespeople? Sometimes you wonder if they really get what car sales is really all about. They have fantastic training, are equipped with a sales process that is idiot proof and have some fantastic products which often sell themselves, yet still everyday up and down the country potential customers are made to feel like … [Read more...]
Right now car buyers are in short supply in the showrooms of Great Britain and dealers have had to become very innovative in how they market their cars, but also how they incentivise their staff to work harder for that sale. Customers shouldn’t be surprised that they reside on someone’s database and they get harangued with a barrage of … [Read more...]
At a time when customer service is critical it appears that maybe some dealers do not understand that this means good service. Thousands of pounds have been invested in putting a process in place by car manufacturers with various incentives, staff training and coaching yet still according to surveys (which 2010 in this instance) car dealers are … [Read more...]
Perhaps the most damning statistic for today’s car dealers is the one which tells us that 44% of customers who have bought cars have had no further contact from the supplying dealer. Yes by “no contact” we mean, um, no contact, nothing, zilch. That means that those customers will feel little if any loyalty to that dealer and the business … [Read more...]
Sales people are funny creatures. Many would rather worry about what car they drive rather than how much money they earn, and for some having the right pen or wallet and wearing a sharp suit make them think they have truly arrived. Forget the fact they may not have sold any cars this week, as long as they look good they think they can get away … [Read more...]
Ex-rental cars are again set to be cause for debate in the car sales arena. The recent report by the OFT has again highlighted how dealers need to clearly communicate to buyers that a car they are selling is an ex-daily rental car. At present the trade mainly view the situation as; if a customer asks they will be told if not, then it doesn’t … [Read more...]
As our hunger for greater technology becomes ever more ravenous I wonder if there is a breaking point where it will simply become information overload and people will go running back to “the basics”. I spoke with a dealer recently who had paid an internet marketer to critique his website and suggest any improvements to help him gain more … [Read more...]
Franchised car dealers are becoming increasingly concerned about how they make sure their aftersales business remains profitable. They are under pressure like never before from the likes of Nationwide and Kwik-Fit (although that may change after the recent report by the BBC’s Watchdog) and other independent service centres who appear to be … [Read more...]
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