Car dealerships are missing out

What depressing motor industry news. These were yesterday’s headlines.

• new car sales in sharp decline

• car manufacturer Toyota slashes profits forecast

• BMW’s Mini new car production to stop for a month over Christmas

• Jaguar luxury car manufacturer extends redundancy plan

FOXY Lady Drivers Club works with female friendly car dealerships, garages and fast fit chains and our new garage services website, FOXY Choice, is doing good business in the independent garage sector but less well in the franchised dealer sector. Why is this?

Well, to begin with, all car dealerships are seriously depressed about the absence of new car sales. And whilst some might blame this all on the economy, the reality is that recent car sales patterns have been confirming that motorists are getting more eco-friendly and not buying big any more – in fact we might say that ‘small’ is the new ‘big’ in terms of being ‘cool’; this is surely about to affect fleet car sales which is the real production and supply dilemma for car manufacturers to face with fairly immediate effect.

Recognising that much of this downturn has been on the cards for some time for these reasons, we still feel the pain of the likes of the Sidlow Group, recently into liquidation after a 60 year history and with the potential of 250 lost jobs. We also know of exceptional individuals who have been made redundant by plc groups and who are sufficiently disillusioned to be considering leaving the retail motor industry for good. What a waste of their training and experience, were this to happen.

Yet this preoccupation with new car sales is missing the companion gift horse sales opportunity; that of pro-actively targeting new aftersales business and giving the independent sector a run for their money in this area. I say this for the benefit of the motorist because FOXY believes in consumer choice, no matter the motorists’ budget – we do not favour either type of garage solution because women drivers have their own shopping agenda and expectations in this area.

As things stand, I see many dealerships focusing on new car sales, head in the sand, refusing new marketing opportunities regardless, frozen in the headlights almost. Yes manufacturers are doing their promotional best but that’s not the whole story seen from a local perspective. Some leading franchised dealerships tell us they only service and repair their own makes whereas they could so easily be carrying out MOT and car servicing work for other makes AND increasing their potential audience of new car buyers in future.

Another problem is that few new car sales staff know much about aftersales and it isn’t a very sexy sell either…

But do nothing and nothing happens of course, and in a recession where some businesses stand still whilst others spot opportunities and move the baton forward.

There is another way, were the short-sighted able to see it!

I believe that car dealerships should be pro-actively marketing aftersales services (MOTs, car servicing etc) to raise local awareness of their services, to keep in touch with local motorists and earn more from this area (than before) to stay alive…

By building new and targeted relationships now, they can then reap the new car sales benefit from more motorists when the good times return, as they surely will.

Whilst I would say this wouldn’t I, strategic marketers know that recession is no time to do nothing. It’s an opportunity to revisit your strategic business thinking, do new things, invest in new marketing and question the old, get out there and fight for the business there is.

What better opportunity than to join the female friendly FOXY bandwagon? Wake up, think about service levels strategically and leverage the FOXY quality association in the local community.

It’s surely time for all dealerships to focus on aftersales to shore up their bottom line and because they have this time before the next new car sales opportunity in March 2009…

FOXY Steph

FOXY Lady Drivers Club
www.foxyladydrivers.com
Winner, Home Business Awards, 2008
Regional Finalist, HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards, 2007
Runner Up, The Daily Telegraph’s Trailblazers’ Business Awards, 2006
Small Business Award Winner, SAGA Magazine, 2005