My wife has just changed her car – same model, different dealer. Although this experience has been significantly better than last time, it does neatly some up the gap that sometimes exists between marketing and reality.
This manufacturer has invested well in marketing. Shiny makeovers for the showrooms, attractive finance options, choice of options and a very good brand image built up over the years after a significant reinvention.
The car isn’t bad either. Good performance, economical, reliable and not remotely embarrassing to be seen behind the wheel of (unlike mine – but that’s another story).
In practice therefore, the car has practically sold itself but it all starts to go wrong when you enter the sales process. First of all, you have to talk to a car salesman. Car Sales has at least moved on from almost exclusively recruiting from the “I used to sell double glazing but everyone has it now, so what can I do next” pool to what appears to be the “I am sick of getting people to switch energy companies door to door and want to work indoors in the warm with free coffee” school of twenty somethings.
Here is shocking news for the car industry. Most of their customers buying a new car know what they want and do not want. They don’t need, or desire, to talk to a salesman. Their role is particularly redundant when you are upgrading the same model.
The salesman tried to impress my wife with all sorts of technical “ooh look at the stereo on that” when all she wanted was to make sure it had proper Bluetooth. He did not read the situation well but got the business because he was not as bad as the last one!
The next reality chasm is what is in the brochure, compared with the reality on the ground. There is allegedly a wide choice of colours and other variants (according to marketing material). In reality, my wife had a choice of 4 cars of the model she wanted. Great if that was just 4 in the dealership, but it was in the whole country – with the other 25 or so dealers fighting for them. Guess what. They all had metallic paint (adding 3-4% to the cost).
Apparently the dealers have to sell all the cars in the country before they can order new ones in the colours their customers actually want (and “by the time that happens, the 0% finance offer will probably have finished”). In today’s world where we are being forced to waste our lives choosing between providers of even the most mundane services, I thought the Henry Ford “any colour as long as it is black” was over. Apparently the motor industry doesn’t change that much!
Once the car was found (in their “secret depot” of all places) promises of calls on the progress of the sale were not kept and despite my wife playing a game of telephonic chicken “why should I ring him”, she finally cracked and the sales child guy, did not seem embarrassed that she had to ring to find out if the car was secured and when it was likely to arrive. The unnecessarily complex environment that had been created made these fairly important questions.
In the world of B2B sales and marketing, companies have learnt not to treat customers like this. In the new complex B2B sales process, sales and marketing messages have become aligned and it is all about helping the customer become successful by educating them and helping them solve their issues. It is no longer about just selling your solution regardless of want, need or suitability.
How not to look like a car dealer in the B2B enterprise space
- Make sure the sales approach and marketing messaging matches
- Don’t be a one trick pony – Have different options available for both product and sales approach
- Listen to the customer and respond with information they are interested in
- Become the trusted advisor – Be honest with them
- Don’t make the customer think their business is not worth your efforts (small change to you could be big bucks to the customer)
- Don’t force additional costs on them just to make your sale bigger
- Remember – the customer is the important person here, not you!
- Don’t make up a complex and potentially patronising back story to cover your inefficiencies
- Keep the customer updated with progress
- The customer has no incentive to do your job for you! So don’t expect them to
- The customer just wants the product or service (if you are lucky) – they are not interested in hearing about the internal challenges and issues of getting it to them
- Treat the customer as if you want to deal with them again
- Customers are well informed – don’t treat them as if they are stupid
The IT industry benefited society in the 80’s by taking a lot of second car dealers out of circulation by offering them jobs. We do not need to recruit a new wave of them, because although the B2B sales environment has changed, the B2C car market still appears to be stuck.
