Growing Your New And Used Car Sales Volumes; “It’s A Walk In The Park!” (European Manufacturers Article)

During meetings with manufacturers we are often asked about the statement we make most often; “That for most businesses within your franchised dealer network, next years’ growth is already within the 4 walls of the businesses concerned, it is just going unnoticed.” This statement normally grabs people’s attention, more so now that we are entering such a challenging period for new car sales, and of course invariably it will lead to another question; “Where does the growth in new and used car sales volume come from?”

Now the answer to this second question is difficult to discuss in finite terms, and more so in a blog post; why? Well it depends entirely on where the businesses concerned are in their growth cycle and to add to the complexities, the answer to this question will change for individual businesses year on year, as growth is achieved and the individual focus for further growth changes and evolves.

So as you can already see, the answer to this question is not a “One Size Fits All” solution for every business contained within your franchised dealer network, or indeed the same answer for the businesses concerned, on a year by year basis. But one thing does remain the same; the operational and managerial disciplines required in order to ensure that sales opportunities that already exist are being maximised.

Without the disciplines and the focus required we will continue down the path of panic that I have been noticing recently; the distress marketing messages on radio stations talking about “Great Deals” and “Special Offers” and what’s worse, some of these advertising campaigns are actually manufacturer marketing campaigns. I don’t wish to alienate my manufacturer based contact base here, but this will be adding to the problems and reducing margins, not solving any long term problems, and let me explain why.

Although I would never advocate distress marketing messages based solely on price, I think we can all agree that there is no doubt that effective marketing and advertising campaigns are paramount to the successful manufacturer and the sales operations contained within their franchised dealer networks, but there is folly in expecting to throw more money at marketing campaigns and expect that to redress the shortfalls you may be experiencing in new or used car sales volumes.

Thus we return to the importance of my original statement; that in the majority of cases, the growth in new and/or used car sales volume required, is already within the four walls of the businesses contained within your franchised dealer network; you just need to understand where to find it and how to maximise the opportunities you are already generating.

In order to demonstrate the point of why throwing more good money after bad money on continually increasing marketing levels, (in order to increase sales volumes), is never the answer, let’s look at the process of growing your new and/or used car sales volumes as being like walking; only one leg is labelled “Generating Opportunities To Do Business” and the other leg is labelled “Maximising Opportunities To Do Business”. 

Now I think we would all agree that you are only walking and moving forward when you are putting one leg in front of the other; if you are doing the same thing again and again, whether it be relying solely on increased advertising/marketing initiatives or continuing to solely focus on closing ratios and maximising opportunities to do business; well think of the walking analogy again and your legs.

If you are trying to grow and move forward using just one leg? Well that’s not walking, that’s hopping, and as much as you can move forward for a while by hopping, it is exhausting and eventually the process collapses. So my question to manufacturers and every business owner is thus; “If you have two perfectly good legs available to you, why would you not use them both?”

Now I know this sounds simple and in reality of course, the complexities of any business, especially new and used car sales operations, mean that finding the answers and implementing them can often be the challenge. But once the correct procedures and measurement processes are in place, combined with an understanding of when it is the right time to change the focus, growing your new and used car sales volumes year on year should become second nature for your franchise partners, just like walking!

Let’s look at the 2 legs and why it is critical to understand which leg to put forward first, in order to keep forward momentum and thus new and used car sales volumes growing. Let’s look at the leg labelled Maximising Opportunities To Do Business because this is the best place to start. Start by thinking of your closing ratio to enquiries received and what you think is acceptable?

If you think that a 25% closing ratio is acceptable, (and I won’t comment either way in this article), that means you as the manufacturer will sleep soundly at night, happy in the knowledge that for every 100 customers you attract to the businesses of your franchise partners, 75 of them will be lost!

So think first about the closing ratio that you are happy with and then decide whether or not you feel that your franchise partners actually have an accurate measurement of this? Without this both you as the manufacturer and your franchise partners will be unable to act effectively and shift your growth focus to the other leg, (Generating Opportunities To Do Business), at the right time.

This accurate measurement of sales enquiries, (and then closing ratios), in the new and used car operations of your franchise partners is of paramount importance in building the foundations of both effective sales enquiry management and operational processes. If your franchise partners are not achieving your desired closing ratio, let’s say at 25% of enquiries received, why would invest more money into advertising and marketing at this stage, only to generate more enquiries that your franchise partners continue to close at a ratio that you are not happy with? This is not the way to achieve your sales objectives.

Only with accurate measurement of enquiry levels and closing ratios, will you then be able to assess when you reach your desired closing ratio; and until you do, our advice would be that your franchise partners continue to focus their attention on the operational procedures required within their businesses, in order to achieve your desired closing ratio, not on investing more and more funds into marketing and advertising; and this is where our statement about the next year’s growth already being within the businesses of your franchise partners comes into play.

The reality is that we have not walked into a franchised dealer yet and not found growth potential for the new and used cars sales operations being lost. As an industry we have, on the whole, been caught out by the pace of evolution in the sales enquiry process; the days of the showroom and telephone logs being enough are well and truly over, the majority of our customers enquire electronically for large periods of time before they would ever contemplate making contact with the businesses of your franchise partners. 

If your franchise partners don’t have the sales management processes and procedures in place to measure and develop these enquiries, then they will be lost; and that’s before we start looking at how finance packages, (including existing customers with cars supplied on finance agreements), can be utilised in order to bring new car sales business forward and maximise opportunities to do business, as well as customers contacting other departments within the business on a daily basis.

However, and as previously stated, this is not to dismiss the importance of advertising and marketing to the successful business. Once your franchise partners have achieved your desired closing ratio and implemented the management controls required within their businesses, in order to maintain the desired closing ratio for 3 months, you will then have to look at the other leg, (Generating Opportunities To Do Business), because if you don’t, you are in danger of hopping once again!

This is when your focus for growth, and that of your franchise partners, must shift back to advertising, marketing and the generation of opportunities to do business. What you have done so far and the initiatives you have in place have got you where you are, so don’t rush to change this. Look at what is required to build on what has been achieved; if some initiatives have not worked, divert that money elsewhere and into new initiatives. 

The skill lies in knowing what to do and when to do it, and this goes straight to the heart of the sales operational procedures and enquiry management processes currently in place within the businesses of your franchise partners. Without the correct and effective operational procedures, alongside the ability to manage and utilise the data provided, you will never have the operational foundations in place to ensure your continual success, via the on-going achievement of your new and used car sales objectives.

A good place to start, in terms of assessing the current capabilities of your franchise dealer network, is our New & Used Car Business Development Health Check, the nature of which was explained in our last article and can be found by following the direct link in the title above.

In fact we are that confident that we can utilise our New & Used Car Business Development Health Check process to identify immediate growth opportunities and build on your current level of new and used car sales success, that we will be running an initiative for Automotive Manufacturers during the challenging 2nd quarter new car trading period. Via prior arrangement we will commit to make ourselves available to you for a complimentary conference call, in order to review your current new and used car sales performance and to explore the solutions required, in order to redress areas of underperformance.

So why are we running this initiative? Well with the 1st quarter registration figures now published by the SMMT and other reporting institutions, there can be no hiding from just how challenging the trading landscape has become for the Automotive Sector, and many of our contacts have already identified an immediate and urgent requirement to redress the declines in new car registrations that some have experienced, thus we have been approached to help.

If this initiative is of interest or you would like to know more about our new and used car business development consultancy programmes, because you would like to partner with an organisation of professionals who have faced the challenges of fast paced evolutionary markets and know how to develop a successful and profitable new and used car franchise dealer network on your behalf, (in order to keep your new car and total business objectives growing and on track), then we would very much like to hear from you.

The owners of Autoformance have owned and run successful new and used car businesses and been at the forefront of the development of both new car training programmes and approved used car programmes for a host of manufacturers. For an exploratory conversation regarding our services and/or to book your exploratory conference call, please do not hesitate to contact one of our Founding Directors; Andrew Banning at ajb@autoformance.com or Malcolm Thomas at mgt@autoformance.com

Alternatively please feel free to call us on 0044 345 057 3177.

For more information about our services please visit our website at www.autoformance.com

Andrew Banning.
Used Car Business Development Director.

 

Growing Your New And Used Car Sales Volumes; “It’s A Walk In The Park!” (UK Manufacturers Article)

During meetings with manufacturers we are often asked about the statement we make most often; “That for most businesses within your franchised dealer network, next years’ growth is already within the 4 walls of the businesses concerned, it is just going unnoticed.” This statement normally grabs people’s attention, more so now that we are entering such a challenging period for new car sales, and of course invariably it will lead to another question; “Where does the growth in new and used car sales volume come from?”

Now the answer to this second question is difficult to discuss in finite terms, and more so in a blog post; why? Well it depends entirely on where the businesses concerned are in their growth cycle and to add to the complexities, the answer to this question will change for individual businesses year on year, as growth is achieved and the individual focus for further growth changes and evolves.

So as you can already see, the answer to this question is not a “One Size Fits All” solution for every business contained within your franchised dealer network, or indeed the same answer for the businesses concerned, on a year by year basis. But one thing does remain the same; the operational and managerial disciplines required in order to ensure that sales opportunities that already exist are being maximised.

Without the disciplines and the focus required we will continue down the path of panic that I have been noticing recently; the distress marketing messages on radio stations talking about “Great Deals” and “Special Offers” and what’s worse, some of these advertising campaigns are actually manufacturer marketing campaigns. I don’t wish to alienate my manufacturer based contact base here, but this will be adding to the problems and reducing margins, not solving any long term problems, and let me explain why.

Although I would never advocate distress marketing messages based solely on price, I think we can all agree that there is no doubt that effective marketing and advertising campaigns are paramount to the successful manufacturer and the sales operations contained within their franchised dealer networks, but there is folly in expecting to throw more money at marketing campaigns and expect that to redress the shortfalls you may be experiencing in new or used car sales volumes.

Thus we return to the importance of my original statement; that in the majority of cases, the growth in new and/or used car sales volume required, is already within the four walls of the businesses contained within your franchised dealer network; you just need to understand where to find it and how to maximise the opportunities you are already generating.

In order to demonstrate the point of why throwing more good money after bad money on continually increasing marketing levels, (in order to increase sales volumes), is never the answer, let’s look at the process of growing your new and/or used car sales volumes as being like walking; only one leg is labelled “Generating Opportunities To Do Business” and the other leg is labelled “Maximising Opportunities To Do Business”. 

Now I think we would all agree that you are only walking and moving forward when you are putting one leg in front of the other; if you are doing the same thing again and again, whether it be relying solely on increased advertising/marketing initiatives or continuing to solely focus on closing ratios and maximising opportunities to do business; well think of the walking analogy again and your legs.

If you are trying to grow and move forward using just one leg? Well that’s not walking, that’s hopping, and as much as you can move forward for a while by hopping, it is exhausting and eventually the process collapses. So my question to manufacturers and every business owner is thus; “If you have two perfectly good legs available to you, why would you not use them both?”

Now I know this sounds simple and in reality of course, the complexities of any business, especially new and used car sales operations, means that finding the answers and implementing them can often be the challenge. But once the correct procedures and measurement processes are in place, combined with an understanding of when it is the right time to change the focus, growing your new and used car sales volumes year on year should become second nature for your franchise partners, just like walking!

Let’s look at the 2 legs and why it is critical to understand which leg to put forward first, in order to keep forward momentum and thus new and used car sales volumes growing. Let’s look at the leg labelled Maximising Opportunities To Do Business because this is the best place to start. Start by thinking of your closing ratio to enquiries received and what you think is acceptable?

If you think that a 25% closing ratio is acceptable, (and I won’t comment either way in this article), that means you as the manufacturer you will sleep soundly at night, happy in the knowledge that for every 100 customers you attract to the businesses of your franchise partners, 75 of them will be lost!

So think first about the closing ratio that you are happy with and then decide whether or not you feel that your franchise partners actually have an accurate measurement of this? Without this both you as the manufacturer and your franchise partners will be unable to act effectively and shift your growth focus to the other leg, (Generating Opportunities To Do Business), at the right time.

This accurate measurement of sales enquiries, (and then closing ratios), in the new and used car operations of your franchise partners is of paramount importance in building the foundations of both effective sales enquiry management and operational processes. If your franchise partners are not achieving your desired closing ratio, let’s say at 25% of enquiries received, why would invest more money into advertising and marketing at this stage, only to generate more enquiries that your franchise partners continue to close at a ratio that you are not happy with? This is not the way to achieve your sales objectives.

Only with accurate measurement of enquiry levels and closing ratios, will you then be able to assess when you reach your desired closing ratio; and until you do, our advice would be that your franchise partners continue to focus their attention on the operational procedures required within their businesses, in order to achieve your desired closing ratio, not on investing more and more funds into marketing and advertising; and this is where our statement about the next year’s growth already being within the businesses of your franchise partners comes into play.

The reality is that we have not walked into a franchised dealer yet and not found growth potential for the new and used cars sales operations being lost. As an industry we have, on the whole, been caught out by the pace of evolution in the sales enquiry process; the days of the showroom and telephone logs being enough are well and truly over, the majority of our customers enquire electronically for large periods of time before they would ever contemplate making contact with the businesses of your franchise partners. 

If your franchise partners don’t have the sales management processes and procedures in place to measure and develop these enquiries, then they will be lost; and that’s before we start looking at how finance packages, (including existing customers with cars supplied on finance agreements), can be utilised in order to bring new car sales business forward and maximise opportunities to do business, as well as customers contacting other departments within the business on a daily basis.

However, and as previously stated, this is not to dismiss the importance of advertising and marketing to the successful business. Once your franchise partners have achieved your desired closing ratio and implemented the management controls required within their businesses, in order to maintain the desired closing ratio for 3 months, you will then have to look at the other leg, (Generating Opportunities To Do Business), because if you don’t, you are in danger of hopping once again!

This is when your focus for growth, and that of your franchise partners, must shift back to advertising, marketing and the generation of opportunities to do business. What you have done so far and the initiatives you have in place have got you where you are, so don’t rush to change this. Look at what is required to build on what has been achieved; if some initiatives have not worked, divert that money elsewhere and into new initiatives. 

The skill lies in knowing what to do and when to do it, and this goes straight to the heart of the sales operational procedures and enquiry management processes currently in place within the businesses of your franchise partners. Without the correct and effective operational procedures, alongside the ability to manage and utilise the data provided, you will never have the operational foundations in place to ensure your continual success, via the on-going achievement of your new and used car sales objectives.

A good place to start, in terms of assessing the current capabilities of your franchise dealer network, is our New & Used Car Business Development Health Check, the nature of which was explained in our last article and can be found by following the direct link in the title above.

In fact we are that confident that we can utilise our New & Used Car Business Development Health Check process to identify immediate growth opportunities and build on your current level of new and used car sales success, that we will be running an initiative for Automotive Manufacturers during the challenging 2nd quarter new car trading period. Via prior arrangement we will commit to make ourselves available to you for a complimentary explorative meeting, in order to review your current new and used car sales performance and to explore the solutions required, in order to redress areas of underperformance.

So why are we running this initiative? Well with the 1st quarter registration figures now published by the SMMT, there can be no hiding from just how challenging the trading landscape has become for the Automotive Sector, and many of our contacts have already identified an immediate and urgent requirement to redress the declines in new car registrations that some have experienced, thus we have been approached to help.

If this initiative is of interest or you would like to know more about our new and used car business development consultancy programmes, because you would like to partner with an organisation of professionals who have faced the challenges of fast paced evolutionary markets and know how to develop a successful and profitable new and used car franchise dealer network on your behalf, (in order to keep your new car and total business objectives growing and on track), then we would very much like to hear from you.

The owners of Autoformance have owned and run successful new and used car businesses and been at the forefront of the development of both new car training programmes and approved used car programmes for a host of manufacturers. For an exploratory conversation regarding our services and/or to book your exploratory meeting/conference call, please do not hesitate to contact one of our Founding Directors; Andrew Banning at ajb@autoformance.com or Malcolm Thomas at mgt@autoformance.com

Alternatively please feel free to call us on either 07796 260261 (Andrew Banning) or 07834 600642 (Malcolm Thomas).

For more information about our services please visit our website at www.autoformance.com

Andrew Banning.
Used Car Business Development Director.

Growing Your New And Used Car Sales Volumes; “It’s A Walk In The Park!” (UK Dealer Article)

During consultancy days at franchised dealerships we are often asked about the statement we make most often; “That next years’ growth is already within the 4 walls of the business, it is just going unnoticed.” This statement normally grabs people’s attention, more so now that we are entering such a challenging period for new car sales, and of course invariably it will lead to another question; “Where does the growth in new and used car sales volume come from?”

Now the answer to this second question is difficult to discuss in finite terms, and more so in a blog post; why? Well it depends entirely on where the business concerned is in their growth cycle and to add to the complexities, the answer to this question will change for individual businesses year on year, as growth is achieved and the individual focus for further growth changes and evolves.

So as you can already see, the answer to this question is not a “One Size Fits All” solution for every business, or indeed the same answer for the business concerned, on a year by year basis. But one thing does remain the same; the operational and managerial disciplines required in order to ensure that sales opportunities that already exist are being maximised.

Without the disciplines and the focus required we will continue down the path of panic that I have been noticing recently; the distress marketing messages on radio stations talking about “Great Deals” and “Special Offers” and what’s worse, some of these advertising campaigns are actually manufacturer marketing campaigns. I don’t wish to alienate my either my franchised dealer or manufacturer based contact bases here, but this will be adding to the problems and reducing margins, not solving any long term problems, and let me explain why.

Although I would never advocate distress marketing messages based solely on price, I think we can all agree that there is no doubt that effective marketing and advertising campaigns are paramount to the successful manufacturer and the sales operations contained within their franchised dealer networks, but there is folly in expecting to throw more money at marketing campaigns and expect that to redress the shortfalls you may be experiencing in new or used car sales volumes.

Thus we return to the importance of my original statement; that in the majority of cases, the growth in new and/or used car sales volume required, is already within the four walls of your business; you just need to understand where to find it and how to maximise the opportunities you are already generating.

In order to demonstrate the point of why throwing more good money after bad money on continually increasing marketing levels, (in order to increase sales volumes), is never the answer, let’s look at the process of growing your new and/or used car sales volumes as being like walking; only one leg is labelled “Generating Opportunities To Do Business” and the other leg is labelled “Maximising Opportunities To Do Business”. 

Now I think we would all agree that you are only walking and moving forward when you are putting one leg in front of the other; if you are doing the same thing again and again, whether it be relying solely on increased advertising/marketing initiatives or continuing to solely focus on closing ratios and maximising opportunities to do business; well think of the walking analogy again and your legs.

If you are trying to grow and move forward using just one leg? Well that’s not walking, that’s hopping, and as much as you can move forward for a while by hopping, it is exhausting and eventually the process collapses. So my question to senior franchised dealer based professionals and every business owner is thus; “If you have two perfectly good legs available to you, why would you not use them both?”

Now I know this sounds simple and in reality of course, the complexities of any business, especially new and used car sales operations, means that finding the answers and implementing them can often be the challenge. But once the correct procedures and measurement processes are in place, combined with an understanding of when it is the right time to change the focus, growing your new and used car sales volumes year on year should become second nature for you, just like walking!

Let’s look at the 2 legs and why it is critical to understand which leg to put forward first, in order to keep forward momentum and thus new and used car sales volumes growing. Let’s look at the leg labelled Maximising Opportunities To Do Business because this is the best place to start. Start by thinking of your closing ratio to enquiries received and what you think is acceptable?

If you think that a 25% closing ratio is acceptable, (and I won’t comment either way in this article), that means you as the professional responsible/owner of the business, will sleep soundly at night, happy in the knowledge that for every 100 customers that contact your business, 75 of them will be lost!

So think first about the closing ratio that you are happy with and then decide whether or not you feel that you actually have an accurate measurement of this, because without this information you will be unable to act effectively and shift your growth focus to the other leg, (Generating Opportunities To Do Business), at the right time.

This accurate measurement of sales enquiries, (and then closing ratios), in the new and used car operations within your business, is of paramount importance in building the foundations of both effective sales enquiry management and operational processes. If your new and used car sales operations are not achieving your desired closing ratio, let’s say at 25% of enquiries received, why would invest more money into advertising and marketing at this stage, only to generate more enquiries that your new and used car sales operations continue to close at a ratio that you are not happy with? This is not the way to achieve your overall sales objectives.

Only with accurate measurement of enquiry levels and closing ratios, will you then be able to assess when you reach your desired closing ratio; and until you do, our advice would be that those responsible for your new and used car sales operations, continue to focus their attention on the operational procedures required within their businesses, in order to achieve your desired closing ratio, not on investing more and more funds into marketing and advertising; and this is where our statement about next year’s growth already being within the 4 walls of your business comes into play.

The reality is that we have not walked into a franchised dealer yet and not found growth potential for the new and used cars sales operations being lost. As an industry we have, on the whole, been caught out by the pace of evolution in the sales enquiry process; the days of the showroom and telephone logs being enough are well and truly over, the majority of our customers enquire electronically for large periods of time before they would ever contemplate making contact with your business. 

If your business doesn’t have the sales management processes and procedures in place to measure and develop these enquiries, then they will be lost; and that’s before we start looking at how finance packages, (including existing customers with cars supplied on finance agreements), can be utilised in order to bring new car sales business forward and maximise opportunities to do business, as well as customers contacting other departments within your business on a daily basis.

However, and as previously stated, this is not to dismiss the importance of advertising and marketing to the successful business. Once you have achieved your desired closing ratio and implemented the management controls required within your business, in order to maintain the desired closing ratio for 3 months, you will then have to look at the other leg, (Generating Opportunities To Do Business), because if you don’t, you are in danger of hopping once again!

This is when your focus for growth must shift back to advertising, marketing and the generation of opportunities to do business. What you have done so far and the initiatives you have in place have got you where you are, so don’t rush to change this. Look at what is required to build on what has been achieved; if some initiatives have not worked, divert that money elsewhere and into new initiatives. 

The skill lies in knowing what to do and when to do it, and this goes straight to the heart of the sales operational procedures and enquiry management processes currently in place within your business. Without the correct and effective operational procedures, alongside the ability to manage and utilise the data provided, you will never have the operational foundations in place to ensure your continual success, via the on-going achievement of your new and used car sales objectives.

A good place to start, in terms of assessing the current capabilities of your new and used car sales operations, is our New & Used Car Business Development Health Check, the nature of which was explained in our last article and can be found by following the direct link in the title above.

In fact we are that confident that we can utilise our New & Used Car Business Development Health Check process to identify immediate growth opportunities and build on your current level of new and used car sales success, that we will be running an initiative for automotive professionals during the challenging 2nd quarter new car trading period. Via prior arrangement we will commit to make ourselves available to you for a complimentary explorative meeting, in order to review your current new and used car sales performance and to explore the solutions required, in order to redress areas of underperformance.

So why are we running this initiative? Well with the 1st quarter registration figures now published by the SMMT, there can be no hiding from just how challenging the trading landscape has become for the Automotive Sector, and many of our contacts have already identified an immediate and urgent requirement to redress the declines in new car registrations that some have experienced, thus we have been approached to help.

If this initiative is of interest or you would like to know more about our new and used car business development consultancy programmes, because you would like to partner with an organisation of professionals who have faced the challenges of fast paced evolutionary markets and know how to develop a successful and profitable new and used car operation on your behalf, (in order to keep your new car and total business objectives growing and on track), then we would very much like to hear from you.

The owners of Autoformance have owned and run successful new and used car businesses and been at the forefront of the development of both new car training programmes and approved used car programmes for a host of manufacturers. For an exploratory conversation regarding our services and/or to book your exploratory meeting/conference call, please do not hesitate to contact one of our Founding Directors; Andrew Banning at ajb@autoformance.com or Malcolm Thomas at mgt@autoformance.com

Alternatively please feel free to call us on either 07796 260261 (Andrew Banning) or 07834 600642 (Malcolm Thomas).

For more information about our services please visit our website at www.autoformance.com

Andrew Banning.
Used Car Business Development Director.

Is Your New Car And Used Car Sales Performance Meeting Your Expectations? (UK Manufacturers Article)

Welcome to our new and used car business development Health Check initiative, specifically designed by us to immediately help senior manufacturer based professionals to forensically audit the areas of the businesses of their franchise partners, that have a direct impact on immediate and long term new car sales performance.

The questions below are taken from our total and all-embracing 2 day sales, operations and business development audit for franchised dealerships, and the answers to these questions should cause pause for reflection, because the answers to these questions are those most immediately impacting on current levels of new and used car performance and therefore, although not representative of an entire sales, operational and business development audit, will enable us to provide the immediate business development solutions required in order to redress new and used car sales underperformance.

This Health Check is therefore written to enable manufacturer based professionals to audit their franchised dealer network, with the aim of finding immediate business development solutions to;

• Immediate Increases In New Car Sales Volumes.
• The Foundations For Continual Long Term New Car Success.
• Successful Approved Used Car Programmes.

The answers to the questions which directly and most immediately impact on these areas of the business are as below, which are a very small but indicative selection of the questions that we would look to discuss with you, so we can advise on the immediate remedies and recommendations.

But in essence these represent the questions you should always be asking yourself!

1. Are there sufficient staff to meet the new car objectives of the manufacturer?
2. Does the sales teams’ target exceed the dealership’s annual objective?
3. Are all targets visually plotted against achievement?
4. Are all showroom enquiries logged?
5. Are sales staff targeted for daily prospect generation volume?
6. Do the sales staff have knowledge of the local competition?
7. Is product knowledge used in the sales process?
8. Does a training plan exist for new car sales?
9. Are all customers offered finance?
10. Are all new car sales enquiries logged identifying source?
11. Are all new car electronic enquiries logged?
12. Do the Dealer Principal and Sales Manager receive a daily report containing an accurate measurement of all new car enquiries received?
13. Is there a daily reconciliation between incoming new car enquiries and logged new car enquiries?
14. Are customers spoken to by a manager prior to leaving, in the event of no sale?
15. Are all lost new car leads followed up by senior management?
16. Is there a defined operational process for developing electronic new car enquiries to showroom based appointments?
17. Are sales staff trained in the development of electronic new car enquiries?
18. Are new car sales appointments spot checked for validity by the senior management?
19. Are new car sales professionals targeted for daily prospect generation volumes?
20. Are appointments reviewed every morning?
21. Are new car sales executives targeted for appointments made?
22. Is individual new car productivity measured?
23. Is a monthly new car sales action plan drawn up from an accounts analysis review?
24. Is monthly new car performance reconciled to new car operating controls?
25. Are all customers with new cars supplied via PCP being contacted by the new car sales department 6 months before their current agreement terminates.
26. Are all new car customers sold the benefits of PCP?
27. Are new car sales executives trained in the sale of PCP and other finance agreements?
28. Are all unsold new cars proposed to customers whose PCP agreement ends within 3 months?
29. Is the demo fleet built to the most popular specifications, profiled and taken from new car sales?
30. Are all unsold new cars mentioned and discussed in daily sales meetings?
31. Are PCP agreements available on approved used cars?
32. Are websites updated on a daily basis?
33. Are PCP monthly rentals marketed on a continual basis?
34. Is there a defined and agreed social media strategy?
35. Are PCP return cars and part exchanges advertised 3 months in advance of arrival?

In fact we are that confident that we can utilise the questions above in order to identify immediate growth opportunities and build on your current level of new car success, that we will be running an initiative for Automotive Manufacturers during the challenging 2nd quarter new car trading period. Via prior arrangement we will commit to make ourselves available to you for a complimentary explorative meeting, in order to review your current new car sales performance, review the answers to the questions above and to explore the solutions required, in order to redress areas of underperformance.

So why are we running this initiative? Well with the 1st quarter registration figures now published by the SMMT, there can be no hiding from just how challenging the trading landscape has become for the Automotive Sector, and many of our contacts have already identified an immediate and urgent requirement to redress the declines in new car registrations that some have experienced, thus we have been approached to help.

If this initiative is of interest or you would like to know more about our new and used car business development consultancy programmes, because you would like to partner with an organisation of professionals who have faced the challenges of fast paced evolutionary markets and know how to develop a successful and profitable new and used car franchise dealer network on your behalf, (in order to keep your new car and total business objectives growing and on track), then we would very much like to hear from you.

The owners of Autoformance have owned and run successful new and used car businesses and been at the forefront of the development of both new car training programmes and approved used car programmes for a host of manufacturers. For an exploratory conversation regarding our services and/or to book your exploratory meeting/conference call, please do not hesitate to contact one of our Founding Directors; Andrew Banning at ajb@autoformance.com or Malcolm Thomas at mgt@autoformance.com

Alternatively please feel free to call us on 0345 057 3177.

For more information about our services please visit our website at www.autoformance.com  

Andrew Banning.
Used Car Business Development Director.

Is Your New Car And Used Car Sales Performance Meeting Your Expectations? (UK Dealer Article)

Welcome to our new and used car business development Health Check initiative, which has been specifically designed by us to immediately help senior franchised dealer based professionals to forensically audit the areas of the business, that have a direct impact on immediate and long term new and used car sales performance.

The questions below are taken from our total and all-embracing 2 day sales, operations and business development audit for franchised dealerships, and the answers to these questions should cause pause for reflection, because the answers to these question are those most immediately impacting on your current levels of new and used car performance and therefore, although not representative of an entire sales, operational and business development audit, will enable us to provide the immediate business development solutions required in order to redress new and used car sales underperformance.

Health Check is therefore written to enable senior franchised dealer based professionals to audit their new and used car sales operations, with the aim of finding immediate business development solutions to;

• Immediate Increases In New and Used Car Sales Volumes.
• The Foundations For Continual Long Term New and Used Car Success.
• Immediate Increases In Profit Per Unit.

The answers to the questions which directly and most immediately impact on these areas of the business are as below, which represent a very small but indicative selection of the questions that we would look to discuss with you, so we can advise on the immediate remedies and recommendations.

But in essence these represent the questions you should always be asking yourself!

1. Are all showroom enquiries logged?
2. Do the sales staff have knowledge of the local competition?
3. Is product knowledge used in the sales process?
4. Does a training plan exist for new and used car sales?
5. Are all customers offered finance?
6. Are all sales enquiries logged identifying source?
7. Do the Dealer Principal and Sales Manager receive a daily report containing an accurate measurement of all enquiries received?
8. Is there a daily reconciliation between incoming enquiries and logged enquiries?
9. Are customers spoken to by a manager prior to leaving, in the event of no sale?
10. Are all lost leads followed up by senior management?
11. Is there a defined operational process for developing electronic enquiries to showroom based appointments?
12. Are sales staff trained in the development of electronic enquiries?
13. Are sales appointments spot checked for validity by the senior management?
14. Are sales professionals targeted for daily prospect generation volumes?
15. Are appointments reviewed every morning?
16. Are sales executives targeted for appointments made?
17. Is individual productivity measured?
18. Is a monthly sales action plan drawn up from an accounts analysis review?
19. Is monthly performance reconciled to operating controls?
20. Are all customers with new cars supplied via PCP being contacted by the new car sales department 6 months before their current agreement terminates.
21. Are all new car customers sold the benefits of PCP?
22. Are new car sales executives trained in the sale of PCP and other finance agreements?
23. Are all unsold new cars proposed to customers whose PCP agreement ends within 3 months?
24. Is the demo fleet built to the most popular specifications, profiled and taken from new car sales?
25. Are all unsold cars mentioned and discussed in daily sales meetings?
26. Are PCP agreements available on approved used cars?
27. Are websites updated on a daily basis?
28. Are PCP monthly rentals marketed on a continual basis?
29. Is there a defined and agreed social media strategy?
30. Are there sufficient staff to meet objectives?
31. Does the sales teams’ target exceed the dealership’s annual objective?
32. Are all targets visually plotted against achievement?
33. Are PCP return cars and part exchanges advertised 3 months in advance of arrival?
34. Are customers visiting the service department receiving any cost to change direct marketing from the sales department?
35. Do new car, used car and finance department heads meet monthly to strategise the achievement of the dealership’s objectives?

In fact we are that confident that we can utilise the questions above in order to identify immediate growth opportunities and build on your current level of new car success, that we will be running an initiative for franchised dealers during the challenging 2nd quarter new car trading period. Via prior arrangement we will commit to make ourselves available to you for a complimentary explorative meeting, in order to review your current new car sales performance, review the answers to the questions above and to explore the solutions required, in order to redress areas of underperformance.

So why are we running this initiative? Well with the 1st quarter registration figures now published by the SMMT, there can be no hiding from just how challenging the trading landscape has become for the Automotive Sector, and many of our contacts have already identified an immediate and urgent requirement to redress the declines in new car registrations that some have experienced, thus we have been approached to help.

If this initiative is of interest or you would like to know more about our new and used car business development consultancy programmes, because you would like to partner with an organisation of professionals who have faced the challenges of fast paced evolutionary markets and know how to develop successful and profitable new and used car operations on your behalf, (in order to keep your new car and total business objectives growing and on track), then we would very much like to hear from you.

The owners of Autoformance have owned and run successful new and used car businesses and been at the forefront of the development of both new car training programmes and approved used car programmes for a host of manufacturers. For an exploratory conversation regarding our services and/or to book your exploratory meeting/conference call, please do not hesitate to contact one of our Founding Directors; Andrew Banning at ajb@autoformance.com or Malcolm Thomas at mgt@autoformance.com

Alternatively please feel free to call us on 0345 057 3177.

For more information about our services please visit our website at www.autoformance.com

Andrew Banning.
Used Car Business Development Director.

Is Your New Car And Used Car Sales Performance Meeting Your Expectations? (European Manufacturers Article)

Welcome to our new and used car business development Health Check initiative, specifically designed by us to immediately help senior manufacturer based professionals to forensically audit the areas of the businesses of their franchise partners, that have a direct impact on immediate and long term new car sales performance.

The questions below are taken from our total and all-embracing 2 day sales, operations and business development audit for franchised dealerships, and the answers to these questions should cause pause for reflection, because the answers to these questions are those most immediately impacting on current levels of new and used car performance and therefore, although not representative of an entire sales, operational and business development audit, will enable us to provide the immediate business development solutions required in order to redress new and used car sales underperformance.

This Health Check is therefore written to enable manufacturer based professionals to audit their franchised dealer network, with the aim of finding immediate business development solutions to;

• Immediate Increases In New Car Sales Volumes.
• The Foundations For Continual Long Term New Car Success.
• Successful Approved Used Car Programmes.

The answers to the questions which directly and most immediately impact on these areas of the business are as below, which are a very small but indicative selection of the questions that we would look to discuss with you, so we can advise on the immediate remedies and recommendations.

But in essence these represent the questions you should always be asking yourself!

1. Are there sufficient staff to meet the new car objectives of the manufacturer?
2. Does the sales teams’ target exceed the dealership’s annual objective
3. Are all targets visually plotted against achievement?
4. Are all showroom enquiries logged?
5. Are sales staff targeted for daily prospect generation volume?
6. Do the sales staff have knowledge of the local competition?
7. Is product knowledge used in the sales process?
8. Does a training plan exist for new car sales?
9. Are all customers offered finance?
10. re all new car sales enquiries logged identifying source?
11. Are all new car electronic enquiries logged?
12. Do the Dealer Principal and Sales Manager receive a daily report containing an accurate measurement of all new car enquiries received?
13. Is there a daily reconciliation between incoming new car enquiries and logged new car enquiries?
14. Are customers spoken to by a manager prior to leaving, in the event of no sale?
15. Are all lost new car leads followed up by senior management?
16. Is there a defined operational process for developing electronic new car enquiries to showroom based appointments?
17. Are sales staff trained in the development of electronic new car enquiries?
18. Are new car sales appointments spot checked for validity by the senior management?
19. Are new car sales professionals targeted for daily prospect generation volumes?
20. Are appointments reviewed every morning?
21. Are new car sales executives targeted for appointments made?
22. Is individual new car productivity measured?
23. Is a monthly new car sales action plan drawn up from an accounts analysis review?
24. Is monthly new car performance reconciled to new car operating controls?
25. Are all customers with new cars supplied via PCP being contacted by the new car sales department 6 months before their current agreement terminates?
26. Are all new car customers sold the benefits of PCP?
27. Are new car sales executives trained in the sale of PCP and other finance agreements?
28. Are all unsold new cars proposed to customers whose PCP agreement ends within 3 months?
29. Is the demo fleet built to the most popular specifications, profiled and taken from new car sales?
30. Are all unsold new cars mentioned and discussed in daily sales meetings?
31. Are PCP agreements available on approved used cars?
32. Are websites updated on a daily basis?
33. Are PCP monthly rentals marketed on a continual basis?
34. Is there a defined and agreed social media strategy?
35. Are PCP return cars and part exchanges advertised 3 months in advance of arrival?

In fact we are that confident that we can utilise the questions above in order to identify immediate growth opportunities and build on your current level of new car success, that we will be running an initiative for Automotive Manufacturers during the challenging 2nd quarter new car trading period. Via prior arrangement we will commit to make ourselves available to you for a complimentary explorative conference call, in order to review your current new car sales performance, review the answers to the questions above and to explore the solutions required, in order to redress areas of underperformance.

So why are we running this initiative? Well with the 1st quarter registration figures now published by the SMMT, (along with those from other reporting institutions), there can be no hiding from just how challenging the trading landscape has become for the Automotive Sector, and many of our contacts have already identified an immediate and urgent requirement to redress the declines in new car registrations that some have experienced, thus we have been approached to help.

If this initiative is of interest or you would like to know more about our new and used car business development consultancy programmes, because you would like to partner with an organisation of professionals who have faced the challenges of fast paced evolutionary markets and know how to develop a successful and profitable new and used car franchise dealer network on your behalf, (in order to keep your new car and total business objectives growing and on track), then we would very much like to hear from you.

The owners of Autoformance have owned and run successful new and used car businesses and been at the forefront of the development of both new car training programmes and approved used car programmes for a host of manufacturers. For an exploratory conversation regarding our services and/or to book your exploratory conference call, please do not hesitate to contact one of our Founding Directors; Andrew Banning at ajb@autoformance.com or Malcolm Thomas at mgt@autoformance.com

Alternatively please feel free to call us on 0044 345 057 3177.

For more information about our services please visit our website at www.autoformance.com

Andrew Banning.
Used Car Business Development Director.