Enthusiastic Dealer Participation at Nada Performance Road Shows
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OVER 15 800 SUBSCRIBERS www.autolive.co.za Issue No. 121 | 30 May 2019 The first group of panellists at the Dealer Performance Programme in Pretoria consisted of Mark Dommisse, North Motor Group; Stefaan Delport, McCarthy Volkswagen Arcadia; Garth McGee, Ford Lydenburg and facilitator Claudio Camera, a business coach. ENTHUSIASTIC DEALER PARTICIPATION AT NADA PERFORMANCE ROAD SHOWS BY ROGER HOUGHTON I attended the Pretoria meeting and was body, which may affect income such as Dealer impressed by the enthusiasm and openness of Introduction Commission. the presenters. Well-known business coach, Claudio Camera, The recent National Automobile Dealers’ McCraw set the scene by talking about the who was the facilitator for the meeting, said the Association’s (NADA) series of four countrywide series of current developments which could trading environment was tough as there had been Performance Programme meeting provided the have major impacts on motor dealers in South a big drop in business confidence in the past 12 enthusiastic dealer participants with a host of good Africa. These include: the start of industry wage months, with the indicator going down from 44 to information for now and the future. Interestingly, negotiations seeking another three-year deal, 28, “but there are some green shoots showing.” RMI director Gary McCraw, who is responsible ongoing tough negotiations with the Competition Camera added that the dealership of today will for NADA, said that there were different outcomes Commission regarding the content of the be far removed from the dealership of 2025. Major at each of the four meetings held in Pretoria, proposed Code of Conduct, and some big changes Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban. coming from the national financial regulatory continued on page 2 Page 12 Page 15 Page 21 Examining gender equality How Isuzu finds innovative Celebrating 35 successful in the auto industry manufacturing solutions years in the market Subscribe for free @ www.autolive.co.za Page 2 Editor and Advertising Manager continued from previous page improvements to the dealerships’ ■ We can only support the current Liana Reiners rating by customers on Google; 33 brands if there is huge growth [email protected] factors for success will be a well- ■ Upsell to service customers; in sales volume; 083 407 4600 educated and -trained staff and self- ■ Be aware that 46% of online ■ Changes will be gradual and one development of all team members. shoppers are Black women; will be able to adapt; Contributors One major challenge was how to deal ■ Benchmark your business against ■ Digital car-buying and -selling Roger Houghton with the drop being experienced in the best, not necessarily against platforms are part of a dealer’s [email protected] workshop throughput. same-sized dealers; life these days and are a challenge 082 371 9097 The programme consisted ■ Customer retention is critical so that must be managed; of two discussion panels of three look at ways of keeping customers ■ Be aware that 32% of buyers are Advertising Sales dealers each and with Camera as coming back to your dealership, prepared to buy online; Liana Reiners the facilitator. by doing things like offering free ■ Make sure you keep your best [email protected] The first group consisted of car washes; trade-ins to attract quality 083 407 4600 NADA National Chairman, Mark ■ Ensure your dealership is customers; Dommisse, of the North Motor pleasant to visit, with free Wi-Fi, ■ Look to bringing in-house Address Group; Stefaan Delport of McCarthy in a pleasant environment. some of the services that motor 237 Rigel Avenue Volkswagen in Arcadia, Pretoria; and retailers have given away over Waterkloof Ridge Garth McGee, of Ford Lydenburg. The second group of panellists the years, such as tyres, shock Pretoria The question they were asked was: consisted of Fred Whelpton of the absorbers, clutches and batteries; PO Box 914 005 NTT Motor Group; Mark White ■ Promote people from inside your Wingate Park How Do You Become a of Mark White Nissan; and Dirk own organisation and consider a 0153 Winning Dealership? van Rooyen of Halfway Toyota. The graduate trainee programme; 012 460 4448 Answers included: question they were asked was: ■ OEMs can change dealers’ lives ■ Get a full-time person to handle but there is little a dealer can do Website the social media portfolio; What Will Motor Retailing about these developments; www.autolive.co.za ■ It is important to know what to Look Like in the 2020’s? ■ Make the industry more Facebook do with digital feedback; Answers included: attractive to job-seekers; ■ Right-size your business, but ■ Don’t over-estimate the import- ■ Downsize facilities by increasing www.facebook.com/pages/AutoLive remember you still need people ance of the so-called millennials efficiency; on the floor to close deals; (born between 1981 and 1996), ■ Consider putting used cars on © 2019 WCM Media CC ■ Spend money in the right areas; they are just another market open lots instead of in expensive Production ■ People are the key to cutting costs segment even though they make roofed showrooms; ■ Marketing Support Services so use gross profit per head as up about 37% of current walk-ins; Hold less parts stock as you get a measure; ■ Motor business is still all about daily deliveries; Danie Dreyer ■ Train up you own staff instead relationships; ■ Make your dealership a destina- [email protected] of buying expensive people ■ Viewing trade-ins will still continue tion for customers; +27 (0)12 346 2168 from outside; and provide an opportunity to ■ Some dealers are putting dealer- Layout ■ Use online websites to get actual interact with would-be buyers; ships into shopping malls. ■ used vehicle selling prices when Marketing Support Services giving trade-in values, instead of Bonita Tuson just relying on “The Book”; ■ Disclaimer Use the number of trade-in vehi- cles evaluated each day as a meas- While reasonable precautions have ure of dealership productivity; been taken to ensure the accuracy ■ Relook your staffing struc- of the advice and information given ture with the aim of improving to readers, neither the editor, the efficiencies; proprietors, nor the publishers ■ Be careful when employing can accept any responsibility people from outside your for any damages or injury which dealership – look for tech- The second group of panellists were: Fred Whelpton, of the NTT may arise therefrom. savvy people; Motor Group; Mark White, of Mark White Nissan; Dirk van Rooyen, ■ Pay incentives based on of Halfway Toyota; and Camera. MONTHLY SALES STATISTICS The growing amount of advertising in AutoLive has made it necessary to relocate the four pages of detailed monthly vehicle sales analysis to the website www.autolive.co.za. CLICK HERE to access Subscribe for free @ www.autolive.co.za Page 3 Editor’s Note Exports Boom but SA Vehicle Market Remains Sluggish Apart from all the usual news and views you are accustomed BY ROGER HOUGHTON to finding in AutoLive, in this month’s issue there is also quite a bit of reading matter Exports of built-up vehicles from South on companies needing to Africa boomed in April, increasing by 53.8% adapt to and harness the digi- compared to April 2018, but the domestic tal space to ensure survival. market remained sluggish despite overall I came across another sales showing a slight uptick of 0.7%. This interesting piece on the subject, which argues that, whether was the first time since the beginning of we like it or not, there’s a new business model called ‘always 2019 that the market had not declined. on, always available’. It’s definitely not business as usual and Exports in April totalled 33 090 units the shift to the cloud is more dramatic than ever. In short, compared to 36 794 units sold on the to compete on the global stage, today’s businesses have to be local market. remained below the 50-point neutral mark open around the clock, 365 days a year. The Internet has ac- Overall, out of the total domestic even though it increased slightly in April for celerated the pace of change and now it’s a case of customers sales an estimated 86.8% represented sales the first time in three months, which means wanting to buy what they want, when they want, regardless through dealer channels, with 6.5% going that factory conditions remain at fairly of location. to the vehicle rental industry, 4.1% to corpo- depressed levels. Demand for vehicles in SA The new globalised market also offers customers rate fleets and 2.6% to the government. is expected to remain lower in the coming increased choice of suppliers and this means businesses have The passenger car market was 3.9% up months due to low consumer and business to fight harder than ever to capture a piece of the pie. So it is on the figure for April 2018 with the rental confidence, pressure on household income critical for businesses to offer visitors to digital platforms the industry accounting for 8% of new car sales. and lower domestic and global growth. right content at the right time based on individual behaviours Light commercial vehicles sales were down However, NAAMSA says constructive and preferences. This is where data becomes important. 8.1% year-on-year, probably due to the Ford political and economic reforms following But how many companies are actually using that data to Ranger model change. However, sales of the recent general election could see an effectively increase engagement with customers? trucks were up. Medium truck sales rose improved sales performance in the second Modern eCommerce websites use visitor behaviour to by 19.7%, despite UD Trucks not reporting half of the year.