So Tesco Are Going To Be Selling Cars In The UK?

There was a lot of debate over the weekend on social media and the internet about Tesco entering the car market, and how that might affect traditional car dealers in the UK. Once again, some people are sounding the death knell for traditional car dealerships and the UK franchised dealer system.

The threat is real.

And until car dealers begin to think of themselves as retailers, then they may suffer real pain as Tesco and others like them start to play in their market place. Because they will play to their strengths and leave dealers trailing in their wake.

Here are three random ideas in no particular order:

Customer Service

Unfortunately, talk customer service to many managers in the industry, and they will instantly equate the term to scoring points in manufacturer's surveys in order to earn bonuses.

In a bid to reward good service, the manufacturers have turned the whole process into something mechanical and measurable, and it doesn't work. When Sally in the service department calls me to find out if everything was satisfactory when my car was serviced, she's doing so because the dealership is marked when I fill in my CSI form and remember I was followed up, and not because anyone at the dealership actually cares about the service.

Customer service comes from the heart. not from a crib sheet. It's about knowing what my needs are, not imposing some arbitrary set of "nice things." For example, I find the follow up call intrusive and the questions asinine. "Was the bill explained to you by someone?" Of course it was, and if it hadn't been I'd have made damn sure someone did so. And if there was a problem with my "experience" then you can also be sure I would have told everyone about it at the time. I certainly wouldn't have waited until five days later for the follow up call.

You can't prescribe good service, because for each client it's different. Start by finding out what I want, then give it to me.

Demonstrators

I cannot recall a time in all my years as a buyer and then a user chooser company car driver, ever being able to drive the actual car I was interested in. I appreciate no one dealer can run every model, but I'm not talking about rare choices here - they were always mainstream.

The problem is that demonstrators are not viewed as sales tools by dealers. They are company cars for the sales people, managers and in some cases the Dealer Principals wife! And often they are cars that are registered as demonstrators because they were coming up to be fully paid - "Get it on the demo programme, before we have to pay for it!" So dealers end up with cars that nobody wanted in the first place: "I can't let you try the 1.6 diesel, sir, but we do have the 1.2 automatic you can try, which is quite similar."

And of course, if Johnny runs the car you want to drive you can bet it will be his afternoon off when you call into the dealership. And if it's a cabrio you want to try, don't pick a sunny day or the DP's wife will be using it.

Demonstrators are to help sell cars. They should be the best selling models, ideally with a good range of extras on them, and above all, the should be there!

Passion

Where's the passion gone in the motor industry? Solve that, and all the other problems become insignificant.

Visit an Apple store and talk to the staff or watch this video of a Beefeater at the Tower of London These are people with passion for what they do and for delivering beyond people's expectations.

This is the area I would work on if I was running a car dealership, and it's the one area car dealerships can trump the new retailers. Find and employ people who are genuinely passionate about the brand they represent and let them loose to deliver great service, instead of shackling them with systems, processes and a lack of resources.

And by the way, the brand isn't Joe Blogg's Motors, it's Audi, or Bentley or Mini or.....

Unless you think differently?

1/ Road test - Lexus GS450h

2/ Should car manufacturers be selling online?

3/ Formula one? Just get rid of the damn rules