Dealers Dilemma

Ever since the Indian passenger car industry was de – licensed in 1993, the market has witnessed a veritable explosion of innumerable car models vying for our attention in an attempt to woo the customer.
Almost every car manufacturer ? till date ? is offering various permutations and combinations of their model product portfolio, resulting in a plethora of variants, which at times can be pretty bewildering for ? the ? average ? car ? buyer.

Just walk into any car showroom and check out the various models for yourself. Any single model will have at least 5 to 8 different variants ? distinguished by equally cryptic sounding trim level names ? such as LX, VX, DX, PS, EL, FS, SP, Lxi, EX+, Di ? enough to make you feel that mastering the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic script is child?s play in comparison!!

Manufacturers will tell you that they are offering the customer choice. They will tell you that they have a model and a trim level for each and every customers? tastes ? to suit every budget, to cater to any level of customer taste, snobbery and the general game of one-upmanship which car customers enjoy when they park BargeMobile Motor Corporation?s ?Magnifique Plus? model, next to Peanut Car Company?s ?Skeletal LX? set of wheels !!

But the main point here is, have the dealerships and most importantly – dealer sales staff ? kept pace with the rapidly changing dynamics of the car market? Are they in a position to clearly make the customer understand and to differentiate to them as to which model carries what attribute??

Apart from a handful of dealers in India, the bulk of them ? cannot differentiate between a steering wheel and a spare wheel ? forget about convincing the customer enough to make him write out a cheque to buy a higher priced model or a higher trim level variation of the same model ? on product attributes alone.

The lack of incisive and in – depth sales knowledge on the part of dealer staff is worrying to say the least. Apart from mouthing the usual banalities ? most of which you find on the product leaflet anyway ? dealer sales personnel offer precious little addition to their sales blabber to invite the customers? attention enough.
Thus what happens is that the customer decides on a model ? which probably has been drilled into his mind because his friend or mechanic has suggested that model to him ? and he proceeds to write out the cheque for that car only. The bargaining then boils down to the most competitive financing package and the amount of upfront discount the dealer can give as well as any freebies along with it.

It?s about time car manufacturers in India understand that in a market already facing oversupply and idle production capacity ? the last differentiator ? the last bastion of innovation – is in the area of vehicle retailing.

Dealers are the first point of contact the customer has with a car company and no effort must be spared to make sure that dealer personnel are some of the best human talent that the company recruits.
Merely planting pretty ladies in itsy ? bitsy skirts and flashing ?Toothpaste ? Ad? smiles ? are not going to win the sales sweepstakes.

What are needed are knowledgeable individuals ? possessing not merely selling skills ? but with the capability to conceptualize, strategize, implement and finally execute a well rounded sales plan.

Why the bulk of car dealer sales personnel lack these qualities are quite easy to explain.

Most car dealership selling activity in India suffers from a perceptual problem. It is still viewed as ?infra ? dig? by people ? especially by fresher and B- school grads ? as having not enough glamour appeal to work there. Hence there is a lack of proper personnel even wanting to work at these places.

Secondly ? almost all car dealerships in India are closely held family owned businesses ? and the promoters of these businesses lacks the professional vision which they ideally should posses.
Thus they offer pathetic pay packets to sales personnel ? translating to inadequate incentives ? which are not enough to retain and or recruit new knowledgeable people.

And lastly ? one has to realize that selling cars is a very, very specialized task. It?s not similar to selling fast moving consumer goods such as soaps and toothpastes !!

Car retailing requires a deep understanding of the industry, the technicalities involved in the product as well as a certain degree of affection for the automobile to make a convincing sales pitch. Product knowledge – of the car salesperson – is perhaps the most indispensable tool which he / she can possess at all times and should utilize it to its fullest potential.

The car industry in India today is at a crossroad. With a market size which has still a fair way to go before hitting the million units mark, and with quality and reliability levels of cars rapidly converging ? the only area left in which to innovate is in the sphere of effective retailing ? and the sooner the manufacturers do something about this the better.

Related posts:

1. Nano dealers told to market Indica, Indigo With Nano rollout uncertain, Tata Motors is exploring ways to keep its dealer fraternity in good humour. Especially those who...
2. M&M dealers double as farm advisers Automotive firm Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (M&M) is turning its dealerships across the country into farming advice centres in a...
3. Maruti’s giant leap for dealers Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), the leader in the world’s second-fastest growing automobile market, is not resting on its laurels....
4. Mahindara Logan: Victim of a wrong corporate strategy It is sad to see a good product struggling in the market because of a messed up strategy by the...
5. Auto sectors gearing up for a bumpy ride The auto sector is saying its prayers. Sample this: Maruti Suzuki India, which sells more than half the cars sold...