CRM comments
What does CRM mean to you?
Last month’s article on Customer Relationship Management generated a lot of interest from some of our readers. So this month we asked some of the country’s top dealers and manufacturers, including Martin Conlon at Motor Distributors Ltd, Merlin O’Reilly of Merlin Motor Group and Michael Herbert of Windsor Motor Group, what does CRM mean to you? Essential to success in the 21st Century business world? Or simply the latest management buzzword?
I don't view CRM as a buzzword”, said Michael Herbert, “however it may have become one. CRM encompasses a large number of functions within our business, some of which I believe we do well and some we can improve. We must continuously strive to do them all better because our future business is so dependent on repeat custom.
“Within The Windsor Motor Group, we have a dedicated team who manage the database and the direct mail part of our CRM programme. We keep in touch with our customers on a very regular basis about new products, new offers, service reminders, warranty reminders, etc. We also generate anniversary listings on e-mail for salespeople to use to keep in touch with previous customers on the anniversary of their purchase.”
Michael added: “One area I believe that we could improve is CSI information. We don't ask our customers often enough if they were fully satisfied with us, whatever their requirements were – be it a service, body repairs, car hire, sales, etc. Manufacturers tend to do this from time to time, but not in a way that gives us regular and accurate feedback on all aspects of our customer care. Naturally we do an element of CSI research, however this is an area earmarked for improvements.
“CRM is now an integral part of managing a modern day motor dealership. Done badly is nearly worse than not doing it at all. Done well, it improves the image of our industry and the dealership in particular.”
Clearly aftersales is a key driver of CSI, as it’s one of the main reasons customers have for coming back to the dealership they bought their car from. But having closed down their service department last year, Merlin Motor City no longer has this opportunity. One of the things Merlin O’Reilly has done to address that is hold a €5,000 cash prize raffle every three months. Everyone who buys a car is eligible to enter, but they can only claim the prize if they actually turn up to the draw.
“After they’ve bought their car we write back to them and invite them to come back for the raffle”, says Merlin. “On the day we have a check-in desk where you register and your name goes into two main draws – €5,000 for everyone who’s bought a car, and €1,000 for everyone who’s taken a test drive. We also have a dozen other prizes like DVD players, bottles of wine, etc. We do the raffles on a Sunday, so there’s a bouncy castle for the kids as well. Most people bring somebody with them, even if it’s not their whole family.
“The first time we did it we got 82% of the purchasers, which was great. I’ve never seen as many people in a garage as when we have the raffle, it’s much bigger than any dealership opening I’ve been to. We’ve even had people cancelling weekends away to attend! We’ve done three so far and have another one planned for late September, on the same day as the All-Ireland final.
“Because the raffle does interfere with sales. There could be 1,000 people here, so it can be hard for new customers to get attention. The people who have come for the raffle aren’t necessarily looking to buy a car now either – everybody leaves as soon as the last ticket is drawn. They are only there for the chance to win some cash.”
From Merlin’s point of view, it is more of a thank you in advance – rather than waiting 27 months until we want to do business with them again. In that sense it is a bit of a gamble, he says but at least it gets them talking about the garage that evening, whether they are in the pub or having dinner with relations or friends. “You can’t beat the power of a good referral”, he says. It seems to have worked – in fact the concept has already been copied, twice by local garages.
“One of the main reasons we introduced the raffle”, says Merlin, “was because we were starting to question the value of newspaper advertising. I noticed that sometimes if we missed the copy deadline for the ad, our unit sales over the weekend would be no different. So instead of giving the newspaper €3,000, why not give the money back to some of the people who have actually supported us? It is probably a more targeted spreading of the word than a page in the paper. Salespeople can use the raffle as a closing tool as well.
“In fact we have just had our best period this year and we didn’t spend a single cent in the papers in the past four weeks!” That is an alarming statistic.
Another statistic that will be of great interest to everyone involved in the retail motor business comes from some research just completed. It was conducted by e-GoodManners, who produce an internet-based sales diary system and it clearly shows the value of keeping in contact with customers – which is what CRM is all about, according to Martin Conlon, representing VW and Audi Ireland.
“CRM is about staying in touch with the customer”, he says. “Not by farming it out to somebody else, but through the actual person who sold the car keeping in personal contact. That is hugely important in the car business.
“But what we’ve found through market research is that one of the big weaknesses of dealers in Ireland is that they don’t keep in contact with the customer. Both between the order and delivery, and after they have taken delivery. Customers often think the salesperson has forgotten about them. Whereas if a salesperson does follow-up and does phone back customers, they particularly appreciate it and are much more likely to buy the car from your dealership. That’s why we are encouraging our dealers to take up e-GoodManners”.
e-GoodManners, and systems like it, are designed to make the salesperson and the sales department more productive, by ensuring all potential customers are followed up effectively and by increasing test drives and other activities that have been proven to increase sales. And because they are PC-based, they enable the dealership and manufacturer to get a more accurate picture of what is actually going on in the business compared to paper-based manual diary systems.
What the eGM research has identified, in a project conducted for one of the UK’s biggest manufacturers, was that 4%+ of the total sales of dealerships using the eGM system happened after the sixth pro-active follow-up sales call. It’s clear evidence of the link between consistent customer follow-up and incremental sales. As we approach the final quarter, make keeping in touch with customers and prospects a top priority for your business – not just to sell them a car today, but to make sure they come back to you when they are ready to change.
Last month’s article on Customer Relationship Management generated a lot of interest from some of our readers. So this month we asked some of the country’s top dealers and manufacturers, including Martin Conlon at Motor Distributors Ltd, Merlin O’Reilly of Merlin Motor Group and Michael Herbert of Windsor Motor Group, what does CRM mean to you? Essential to success in the 21st Century business world? Or simply the latest management buzzword?
I don't view CRM as a buzzword”, said Michael Herbert, “however it may have become one. CRM encompasses a large number of functions within our business, some of which I believe we do well and some we can improve. We must continuously strive to do them all better because our future business is so dependent on repeat custom.
“Within The Windsor Motor Group, we have a dedicated team who manage the database and the direct mail part of our CRM programme. We keep in touch with our customers on a very regular basis about new products, new offers, service reminders, warranty reminders, etc. We also generate anniversary listings on e-mail for salespeople to use to keep in touch with previous customers on the anniversary of their purchase.”
Michael added: “One area I believe that we could improve is CSI information. We don't ask our customers often enough if they were fully satisfied with us, whatever their requirements were – be it a service, body repairs, car hire, sales, etc. Manufacturers tend to do this from time to time, but not in a way that gives us regular and accurate feedback on all aspects of our customer care. Naturally we do an element of CSI research, however this is an area earmarked for improvements.
“CRM is now an integral part of managing a modern day motor dealership. Done badly is nearly worse than not doing it at all. Done well, it improves the image of our industry and the dealership in particular.”
Clearly aftersales is a key driver of CSI, as it’s one of the main reasons customers have for coming back to the dealership they bought their car from. But having closed down their service department last year, Merlin Motor City no longer has this opportunity. One of the things Merlin O’Reilly has done to address that is hold a €5,000 cash prize raffle every three months. Everyone who buys a car is eligible to enter, but they can only claim the prize if they actually turn up to the draw.
“After they’ve bought their car we write back to them and invite them to come back for the raffle”, says Merlin. “On the day we have a check-in desk where you register and your name goes into two main draws – €5,000 for everyone who’s bought a car, and €1,000 for everyone who’s taken a test drive. We also have a dozen other prizes like DVD players, bottles of wine, etc. We do the raffles on a Sunday, so there’s a bouncy castle for the kids as well. Most people bring somebody with them, even if it’s not their whole family.
“The first time we did it we got 82% of the purchasers, which was great. I’ve never seen as many people in a garage as when we have the raffle, it’s much bigger than any dealership opening I’ve been to. We’ve even had people cancelling weekends away to attend! We’ve done three so far and have another one planned for late September, on the same day as the All-Ireland final.
“Because the raffle does interfere with sales. There could be 1,000 people here, so it can be hard for new customers to get attention. The people who have come for the raffle aren’t necessarily looking to buy a car now either – everybody leaves as soon as the last ticket is drawn. They are only there for the chance to win some cash.”
From Merlin’s point of view, it is more of a thank you in advance – rather than waiting 27 months until we want to do business with them again. In that sense it is a bit of a gamble, he says but at least it gets them talking about the garage that evening, whether they are in the pub or having dinner with relations or friends. “You can’t beat the power of a good referral”, he says. It seems to have worked – in fact the concept has already been copied, twice by local garages.
“One of the main reasons we introduced the raffle”, says Merlin, “was because we were starting to question the value of newspaper advertising. I noticed that sometimes if we missed the copy deadline for the ad, our unit sales over the weekend would be no different. So instead of giving the newspaper €3,000, why not give the money back to some of the people who have actually supported us? It is probably a more targeted spreading of the word than a page in the paper. Salespeople can use the raffle as a closing tool as well.
“In fact we have just had our best period this year and we didn’t spend a single cent in the papers in the past four weeks!” That is an alarming statistic.
Another statistic that will be of great interest to everyone involved in the retail motor business comes from some research just completed. It was conducted by e-GoodManners, who produce an internet-based sales diary system and it clearly shows the value of keeping in contact with customers – which is what CRM is all about, according to Martin Conlon, representing VW and Audi Ireland.
“CRM is about staying in touch with the customer”, he says. “Not by farming it out to somebody else, but through the actual person who sold the car keeping in personal contact. That is hugely important in the car business.
“But what we’ve found through market research is that one of the big weaknesses of dealers in Ireland is that they don’t keep in contact with the customer. Both between the order and delivery, and after they have taken delivery. Customers often think the salesperson has forgotten about them. Whereas if a salesperson does follow-up and does phone back customers, they particularly appreciate it and are much more likely to buy the car from your dealership. That’s why we are encouraging our dealers to take up e-GoodManners”.
e-GoodManners, and systems like it, are designed to make the salesperson and the sales department more productive, by ensuring all potential customers are followed up effectively and by increasing test drives and other activities that have been proven to increase sales. And because they are PC-based, they enable the dealership and manufacturer to get a more accurate picture of what is actually going on in the business compared to paper-based manual diary systems.
What the eGM research has identified, in a project conducted for one of the UK’s biggest manufacturers, was that 4%+ of the total sales of dealerships using the eGM system happened after the sixth pro-active follow-up sales call. It’s clear evidence of the link between consistent customer follow-up and incremental sales. As we approach the final quarter, make keeping in touch with customers and prospects a top priority for your business – not just to sell them a car today, but to make sure they come back to you when they are ready to change.
posted by Saleslynx at 2:15 AM
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