RETAILING CARS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 137, 6 December 1930, Page 27

RETAILING CARS

NEW AND SECOND-HAND

PURSUIT OF THE CUSTOMER

"The presidont of a motor retailing House in the vicinity of New York has supplied "Motor Transport" with a Retailed account of Ms system of conducting business. It has a certain amount of interest and some relation to business methods in New Zealand, ana some extracts may be welcomed. ' "Successful retail merchandising in suburban communities," he says, lies largely in a dealer's reputation for service, and his policy toward the customer after the sale has becu consummated. We feel that the service detKirtme'nt has been more instrumental in building up our new business than auv other medium that we have been able to use. I do not mean that all, that- a dealer has to do is give good service, and his business will come in, but," when 98 per cent, of his owners are 'boosters' in territories like ours a great percentage of resistance is removed, and the owners are a continual source of new prospects. Courteous men are employed dressed in white coats spic and span, to bring the customers,' in some instances women, home after the order has been given to the service salesman or service manager. After completion of th~ work,-the customer is called for an brought to our service department fo the car. No charge is made for this and, although quito an expense to th dealer, it keeps tho owner in the famil; as it were, and keeps the shop bus} I can assure you that after a custome has done business with our Serviee_D< partment for a year or more (and in,c; dentally that service is always bein stressed by the salesman) when th time'comes to purchase a now car, h or she thinks twice before they take chance with an unknown quantity, < go back to the experiences they hai had with, the previous service statioi "Professional men and men who v i •their cars strictly in a business way a ■ always loaned a car while their car i in,' Our repair department. This j.'. though sometimes inconvenient an sometimes a source of expense has.b; word of mouth advertising brought ju an. exceptional amount of business f roi the doctors and business men such ja salesmen, etc., who depend always p. their car in their business." ' THE SALES FORCE. The president uses his own organisa t.ion to fit a town of approximate} 50,000 people. ■:.". The sales force," h says, "consists of a manager, four pei car salesmen, and two used car sales men. In most cases you will find' th manager or the owner does all the at. praising, and has charge of both' th new and used car departments. Th service department consists of a, sei vice manager who greets all customer in conjunction with two service jsales nien who act also in tho capacity o courtesy men in regard to bringing th customers to and from their homes am th& railroad stations, plus an adequat number of mechanics. Tho used ca department, in addition to the sales men) consists of .an all-round mechani «in.d assistant, and two porters to kee" thfej.cars always in the pink of condi tioji. Two girls, one a bookkeeper an< thfejpther a combination telephone opei atjjr. and bill clerk, usually suffice a theclerical force. I^We have tried many ways of sales manvcompensation, and when all is sai ani|f,done wo find that a small salar; an3|a commission is the best form an shows tho best results. Never, unles for an' exceptional reason, do we en ploy- single' men. We find in the Ion; run that married men are much nior steady and' serious, and usually have ai pbjective in view. "After the applicant for a sales man's position has been properly in vestigat-ed, and he apparently measure •up to what we feel }s the standard he is given the information books am is-requested to study them for a wee! before he is allowed, to meet the.pros pects. At the «nd of a week, the man age'r holds an impromptu 'quiz,' and i: satisfied, he puts the salesman on regu ldr-schedule. MORNING STAFF MEETING. ; Every morning the manager holds : Sleeting, even though many times i lasts only as long as a few minutes The purpose of the meeting is to rea< any new copy of the factory advertise ments and analyse the thought of th< advertisement, take up what genera business there might be, and start tin day with the right foot forward. "New car salesmen, are not permittei 1p sell used cars, and used car salesmei lire not permitted to sell new cars Separate and distinct departments ii this respect have given us much bette results than allowing them to just pie! * deal in the other fellow's depart ment. New car men must follow thei owners systematically. With owner that are loss than a year old, a contac personally must be made once 'ever; three months; with owners older tha: a, year, a contact personally or b; telephone once a month. The numbe of owners is divided by the number b days in the month in two classes am given out by the manager every mom ing. In addition to this a month]; service letter from the Service Depart ment is sent to the owner, and the sul Bianco of this letter, which varie monthly, is used by the salesmen i their own follow-up. This is ou main source of prospects outside thos •who come in of their own volitioi The manager examines the new ca salesman's prospects every other daj •which in our case is the floor day o the salesmen, working two men on day and night on tho floor and one da and night oS the floor. This keeps th manager in almost constant touch wit the new ear prospects, and ho in ever ease possible is introduced to the pro: peet before he or she leaves the shov room. Demonstrations are alway urged and made in a regular domor Btration_-car wherever possible, ahvay over s'regular route. It is the dut of the manager to see that the cai 3Te properly arranged on the showrooi <*aor, Kf>? aljK to see t!»at tlioy are- r< arranged periodically. In our case tw Carß can be shown properly in the wir Sows, and th6y are changed every tw days. XTSED CAR DEPARTMENT. "The Used Car Department keep the high-priced used cars in the use Gar showroom. Cars under that pric are displayed in an open-air lot, jus naregs the way, with the exception o two or three high-priced ones whic are featured as specials and change daily. The cars are well arranged i an orderly fashion. They are kep clean by a.porter, who spends his entir time cleaning them. The more cars w have In the lot, the more we sell." H mentions that the supply is kept v fthrtrayb agencies. . - "Toe cars are run inside every nigh by th« salesmen and one of tho porter* I consider the lot the biggest aid t disposing of used cars that we hay eve? hM. As a matter of fact, ou advertising bills on used ears since th advent of our lot have amounted t praotieally nothing, whereas former! tiey ran from four to six hundred do: Lurs a month. Our used car stock i ra better shape than it ever was an;

year at this time. The lot, however, must be orderly, clean, and the cars arranged properly find looking in. the pink of condition. One section of the lot is set aside for the cars under two hundred dollars, and those cars are kept just as clean as the higher-priced I ones. At no time is any section of tho•; lot allowed to look as though it were not properly kept up. This requires constant pressure, but it brings in sales and prices that wo-formerly had-never been-able to get. Signs are properly displayed "to let the-peoplo know that the stock ■ belongs to a reputable dealer in new cars, and many, many times sales are;made to passers-by from out of tpwn that we never would have been ablo to reach otherwise. Stencils for an addressograph machine are made out for every used car owner, and once every three months an attractive- folder is sent out to every owner showing | the late arrivals in the used car department, and many repeat sales are made from this medium, in. addition to their sending in their friends." Bunningout of petrol has more disadvantages than just waiting for the service station'.1 to; deliver a new supply. No matter; how careful one may be, dirt and foreign substances collect in the tank. This foreign substance, which consists of fibre from the inside of the pump hoses, etc., is drawn into tho feed pipe with the last of the supply, clogging the petrol pipes and screens and hindering the normal flow of the new-, supply.