As a solutions provider working in the trade, I spend my time building solutions and services which enable dealers to sell more effectively, efficiently and profitably.
It's not often I use the motor trade as a consumer but I had another opportunity recently.
I documented recently my experiences of buying a car and the somewhat disjointed sales process recently (see here)
I have been looking forward to ordering a Tesla Model Y to replace one of my existing Teslas. I've written many times about my love of Electric cars and Tesla in particular.
However the Model Y doesn't look like it's hitting the UK for another year at least.
So, I decided that myself and my partner would go see what was available in the marketplace by way of alternative to buy for 18 months or so.
On the spur of the moment we decided to visit the Mercedes, Audi and Volkswagen dealers to see their offerings.
Off to the Mercedes dealer we went. It was 10am and the showroom was empty.
We wandered round looking for EQA and EQB. Couldn't see either on display so we went over to one of the sales execs standing idly at the edge of the showroom.
"Do you have any of your electric range on display?" we asked....
"They're outside" was the reply, with a casual wave of his arm towards the door before he turned away. We had to ask him to show us..
Fortunately, another sales exec was outside who seemed more interested in us and showed us the cars. After 30 minutes of discussion and viewing with the exec we all agreed that the forthcoming EQE would be the car for us...
It's a pity he can't contact us when it's out as he never asked our names or contact details.. He didn't even introduce himself!
So on to the Audi dealer for hopefully a better experience.
On entry, we saw the new Etron 55 Quattro in the showroom and went straight over.... We were looking round the car for over 30 minutes without any approach by any member of staff! The sales reception desk was unmanned.
Giving up, we went over to VW next door to see their offering.
Better results! We were greeted on entry and asked about the ID4. We were pointed to the sales exec who was already outside showing the demo car to another customer.
We took a look at the car (which had a horrific interior!). The sales exec was new... But to his credit made a good attempt at the sales process.. He didn't introduce himself but after some prompting took us back into the showroom and helped us walk through the various models in the range...
Sadly he had to use the web site to answer every question we asked as he had no idea (he offered this information...
He did take our details and entered live into his CRM system... An email with some quotations was promised (and later received) and we moved on.
Back to Audi. Someone on reception now so we asked to see the Q4 Etron (which was the other Audi we wanted to see). Was told all sales execs were busy but one would come and help us as soon as free.
Sure enough, 15 mins later, we were joined by a sales exec... Very helpful in terms of showing us over both the Q4 Etron (better and not massively more expensive than the ID4 - they are built on the same VW platform) and the Etron 55 Quattro (which at 20k more seemed to offer a little more storage but seemed to me to be more of a Range Rover style status car for the school run than the Q4 which seemed to offer most of the features of it's bigger brother).
Some reasonable product knowledge was displayed which was good. We asked for a finance illustration. Sadly she couldn'computer wouldn't work so she couldn't do a quote for us at the desk... She wandered off to get a quote done in the back office.
Sure enough 5 mins later a quote was on the desk... Top of the quote was the customer name (not mine as she hadn't asked it).
We expressed some serious interest in the Q4 Etron (it is now high on our list of potentials) and we agreed we would need to order soon to get before Easter 22...
After an hour we left Audi. Again, they have no chance of following us up because again they didn't request any details from us at all!
I'm not sure that the experience would be as either Mercedes or Audi would want. Maybe this is because both are moving more to Digital Sales ? Would dealers see this as typical? Did I catch dealers on a bad day? or are my expectations out of line ?
For me, sales process is basic and consistent and not too difficult, especially with a customer such as myself who was more than willing to give any information asked.
My partner, who isn't out of the motor trade, was somewhat bemused on the lack of apparent interest in making the sale that most of the people we met had expressed.
It makes me think how we can make our software tools better. It's essential that the dealer can capture as much information digitally to enhance the sales process once a human Sales Exec becomes involved who can then supplement.
It's also important that the Sales Staff receive high quality training on the products they used - On both occasions that the sales team were engaged with IT they failed to get it to work as it should.
Our drive to deliver digital self-service solutions right across the dealership will help ensure the customer gets a consistent experience. These shouldn't exclude the human element but leave them to deliver value in areas where a human is better served.
However, this only works if the Sales Exec is really engaged with the process.
Here at Navigator, we already enable our Sales 360 CRM to capture leads from a dealers web site, Autotrader or other platforms, and mix this with existing customer data (so a sales exec can see a customer's existing car for example - even if the customer didn't enter this onto the online enquiry). This can empower a Sales Exec to be able to be able to have a better view of the customer - and knowledge is power when it comes to sales.
We have some great announcements coming shortly which will enhance this process even more!
Find out whether Navigator is a good fit for your dealership. Spend 30 mins with one of our Consultants in a no pressure environment. Click the button to book a Zoom Call
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