Dealer Principles A monthly update on selling more cars and parts more profitably
V
for Dealer Principals 16 May 2014
In this issue: 1
Put the sales in aftersales
2.1 Tips and Tricks: Illegal and dangerous 2.2 Employee Spotlight: Rab Ritchie Secrets of Success: The key to dealing
3.1 with resistance
3.2 CitNOW of the Month: Paul Cosgrove 4.1 Please welcome to CitNOW 4.2 Your Coffee Cartoon
Put the sales in aftersales An industry transforming role reversal between sales and aftersales is occurring in dealerships, as the responsibilities of sales executives and service technicians change. More reliable vehicles, introduction of EVs and ULEVs, have all contributed to fewer services, fewer hours per job card, and declining absorption rates and profits, and the industry is changing to cope. With new technologies like CitNOW, service technicians are spending more time in front of customers than ever before. With the service technician gaining the ability to speak directly with a customer about the health of their vehicle, the ability to sell is becoming increasingly important. This shift has lead to many dealerships equipping their service technicians with sales training to be confident in recommending vehicle repairs.
1
Good technicians can give quality recommendations and are natural aftersales executives. Never before have technicians been instrumental in directly selling parts and labour to the customer, but that is now all changing. The ironic side to all of this is that while technicians spend more time in front of customers, sales executives are spending less. Car sales executives used to spend most of their time on the showroom floor, face-to-face with customers. Today, much of their time is spent online emailing, calling or live chatting with prospects.
...continued on page 2
Tip and Tricks Workshop Illegal or dangerous work
...continued...
A VHC is great at identifying work, but not great at selling it, even when the fault is illegal or dangerous. It’s difficult to convince customers with a phone call or even face-to-face. The fundamental problem is the lack of visual evidence, especially if the wear and tear is unanticipated, “seeing is believing” after all.
The aftersales department in many dealerships is responsible for a large portion of the dealership’s direct profit. So equipping service technicians and advisors with the kit and confidence to sell parts and labour can, and has, proved very lucrative for many dealers.
How CitNOW can help:
The switch
1. “I’ll believe that when I see it”. You can’t take the
customer into the workshop to show them the fault, so take the workshop to the customer with CitNOW.
2. Keep the repair in your workshop. Identified work
is often taken to another garage for repair. Stress the danger posed to the customer and why. They shouldn’t drive away with an illegal fault.
3. Be irrefutable. A comment CitNOW-enabled
workshops hear regularly is “Well I can’t argue with that”. Video evidence can’t be disputed!
4. Insure yourself against second opinions. If identified work has been taken elsewhere, a differing opinion could adversely affect your client’s relationship. Avoid word against word situations; your CitNOW of the damage is ready and waiting.
To view our Top Tips cartoon go to: video.citnow.com/vpourhint06
It will take many years for the whole industry to adjust to the new role of service technicians as sales executives, and so represents a great opportunity to gain a competitive edge. According to Google only 2% of vehicle owners get a phone call or email reminder about a routine service. Yet all that is required is a simple change in mindset. An AM-online article reads, “you will rarely find a top performing service advisor driving home in business’ cars, yet the lowest performing sales executive always has a car”. Incentives for up-sells and cross-sells will certainly become more mainstream as technicians get more digital face-time with customers and become an integrated part of the selling process. Sales teams have spent decades refining the sales machine. Aftersales managers can help their teams transfer the skills honed in the showroom to the service technicians and advisors in the workshop.
Employee Spotlight
Robert ‘call-me-Rab’ Ritchie
Web Developer
Rab is a web wizard. He designs and builds CitNOW’s online world, making use of his extensive cyberspace crayon kit to, in his own words, ‘make stuff look good’. Rab is one of the numerous Scotts working at CitNOW, and works out of our development office in Stirling. With an eclectic mix of interests such as watching Rangers lose to Raith Rovers and photographing Stirling’s picturesque castles and graveyards, Rab shines a bit of light on CitNOW life north of the border. To get to know Rab a little bit better go to: video.citnow.com/vpourteam06
2
Dealer Principles | 16 May 2014
Secrets of Success:
Deep-dive into ensuring CitNOW success in your dealership CitNOW was recently in conversation with a GSM. We were talking about his free marketing campaign, won after purchasing a pre and post roll - dealer branding plus calls to action on every CitNOW from his dealership http://www.citnow.com/pre-post-roll He was asking for advice on what to do with one sales executive who hadn’t used CitNOW. What should he do, short of booting him up and down the forecourt? Of course, any manager is perfectly entitled to ‘insist’ his sales exec complies, but What else could you do? 1. Hire the right execs. When recruiting, make a CitNOW presentation part of your interview process. New hires know what is expected from the start. 2. Use CitNOW yourself. Explain your investment in CitNOW and what a good vehicle presentation should look like. Share it with your team. 3. How many CitNOWs do you expect from each Sales Exec per day, per week?
Targets help to create focus; they also create habits. 4. Recording results and making it public is equally as important. Have a CitNOW column on your office whiteboard alongside sales and F&I. 5. Use a weekly sales meeting to review at least two CitNOWs that have been done in the last few days. What was good? What could be better? 6. Don’t give an email enquiry to a sales exec who doesn’t use CitNOW. They’re burning your leads because they could be doing more to get that email prospect into your showroom. 7. Part of a group and think your sales execs should be doing better? We can offer you a deepdive mentoring programme. We’ll dedicate a consultant to your business, with regular visits to work with execs and managers. Gain commitment and finish with significantly more CitNOWs. One BMW group on this programme increased sales by 25% over a 12 month period.
Paul Cosgrove Land Rover Conwy Why it works: Team up: Paul and his cameraman colleague work together to create a very effective tag-team CitNOW. Having both hands free allows Paul to be more expressive and demonstrate features whilst remaining in camera shot. Make your presence felt: Paul’s introduction of the dealership location, size and history shows that the site is a significant affair with an extended trading history. A great way to create buy-in, and present the site as trustworthy. 4 birds, 1 stone: Paul takes a great approach to the enquiry, taking the opportunity to show off a variety of cars and different specifications. He casts his net wide to trigger customer interest and then offers to record a more detailed CitNOW to further the deal. Great CitNOW Paul!
Hero Report Sales
The Oscar: CitNOW of the Month
Amount
Service
Amount
Chris Laing Chandlers Brighton
140
Anthony Burford Sytner Oldbury
Adam O’Sullivan Chandlers Hailsham
108
Philip Ainley Stratstone Hull
88
Robert Foster Chandlers Hailsham
107
Chris McFie Ridgeway Bournemouth
85
Jack Beacher Chandler Brighton
90
Joe Pincott Ridgeway Newbury
78
Leon Campbell Chandlers Hailsham
78
Lee Rothwell Wessex Bristol
78
93
Take a look yourself at: video.citnow.com/vptheoscar7
To see what this month’s hero had to say about CitNOW, along with advice for starters and tips for advanced users go to: video.citnow.com/vpSaleHero3
3
Dealer Principles A monthly update on selling more cars and parts more profitably
V
for Dealer Principals
16 May 2014
Please welcome to CitNOW Ames Nissan Thetford Atkin Motor Engineers Nissan Barton Townley Ltd Bassetts Nissan Bridgend Hylton Nissan Cheltenham Hylton Nissan Worcester Pentagon Nissan Barnsley Pentagon Nissan Huddersfield Richard Sanders Nissan Workshop Richmond Motor Services Nissan Smiths Nissan Peterborough Enza Mercedes-Benz Manchester Jardine Volkswagen Harlow Listers Volkswagen Leamington Spa Mercedes-Benz Grimsby Mercedes-Benz Manchester Central Mercedes-Benz of Chesterfield Mercedes-Benz Orpington Peter Vardy Vauxhall Aberdeen Peter Vardy Vauxhall Aberdeen Porsche Centre East London Sytner Mercedes-Benz Bath Sytner Mercedes-Benz Gloucester Sytner Mercedes-Benz Teesside Sytner Mercedes-Benz WestonSuper-Mare Vic Young Nissan W R Davies Nissan Wilsons of Rathkenny Nissan Wylam Garage Nissan Walton Audi
9 Millars Brook, Molly Millars Lane, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG41 2PQ
4
CitNOW is part of Zype TV Limited
Recipient Recipient Address Line 1 Address Line 2 Address Line 3 Address Line 4