LET’S GO KICK SOME TYRES… ONLINE

Brick-and-mortar car showrooms are clearly just part of the mix for the new breed of car salesmen. But there’s life in the forecourt yet.

Americans are turning to the www and social media in a big way when it comes to buying and selling cars, a group of local retail industry types found on a recent trip to the 2016 US National Automobile Dealer Association conference in Las Vegas. The group was led by Mike Paxton, senior consultant at Sewells Group South Africa, the latest of several similar visits he has guided over the years.

However, Paxton adds, salespeople are getting smarter in other ways. For instance, something we might see more of locally is a popular US ploy – mining of the workshop. Targeted as potential new-car buyers are those who own:  Cars going out of service plan or warranty.  High-mileage cars.  Cars that are expensive to maintain.

Technicians are encouraged to team up with the sales force and in the process earn a spotter’s commission. Dealers using this strategy are said to have increased sales by more than 20 per cent.

Salespeople at the Las Vegas dealerships only earn commission and most dealerships are open seven days a week. Here’s the thing: four out of every five sales come via the telephone, email or Internet. As showroom traffic plunges, guess where the top salespeople are being redeployed? Yes, that’s right, the call centre.

Paxton said it was interesting to note that the dealers they visited opened their website home pages with their service departments. Clearly, that’s where the money is.