1) The Car - the 'product'.
2) The Cost/Price - more appropriately the 'value'
3) The Dealership - this often is embodied in your salesperson.
When you step back from the challenge of making a car deal, the logistics of making that deal, you'll realize that what you are doing is making an investment. Not only in the product but in the dealership. And the people that represent that dealership.
Consider if you will other forms of investment, such as an investment in a business entity. A wise investor will study financial information. They expect companies to publish succinct documention in the form of quality financial reports. Good information supports effective, informative fundamental analysis.
I suppose there are some firms that produce reports that hide rather than reveal information. Just as a wise investor will steer clear of companies that lack transparency in their business operations, financial statements or strategies so should the car shopper.
Our effort to provide transparency throughout our sales process, is intended to nurture your trust, the assurance that you are in good hands with our product and our service and our people.
In the financial investment world the word "transparent" is often used to describe high-quality financial statements. Likewise in our business, transparency is interpreted as anything that is "easily understood," "very clear," "frank" and "candid." That's our style. A more consultive approach to earning your trust and business.
We've infused that interpretation into the three car buying factors. We want you to understand our product. Much of the value added in our automobiles is not visible. So we present the 'car' by offering specifications, comparisons, test drives, and fact sheets so that the customer has a clear understanding of the various features and functions of our product. And the underlying engineering of the vehicle.
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| Honda's ACE Body Structure - Value Added hidden from view |
In the area of cost/value, we offer myriad alternatives in terms of financing, such as purchase or lease options, extended service, etc.
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| Honda Cars Hold Their Value |
In the area of People...we display our MBS characterization on our name tags. (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow) We've earned Honda's Presidents Award for seven straight years.
Wouldn't you like to buy your next car from someone that you know? And trust? What's follows reveal how we go about making that happen for you.
Here's a synopsis, a back story of sorts, that I've borrowed from an article that appeared in 2001 in the Charleston Regional Business Journal. (Quick 2001)
In a 1996 Gallup Poll surveying 26 occupations for honesty and ethics, Americans rated car salesmen dead last — as they had every year since 1977, when the profession first appeared in the poll.
“It’s high time the industry did something about its image,” says Brad Davis, executive general manager of Rick Hendrick Imports on Savannah Highway. “Car dealerships are multi-million-dollar corporations and should take a corporate, professional approach to selling.”
The Hendrick Automotive Group is doing just that with its Charlotte, N.C.-based Hendrick University. There, says Davis, sales trainees take a number of courses, from communication skills to the Hendrick auto dealership’s culture and business philosophy, plus sales training classes.
"A lot of the courses are pretty basic,” says Davis. “Trainees learn how to greet customers, how to present a product, how to take a customer on a road test, how to get to the customer’s real wants and needs to make sure they are being sold the right car. In addition, there are classes in telephone skills, time management and prospecting.”
After the four-day session, trainees return to their regional dealerships and are paired with senior sales reps. “This is when the sales trainees see how things flow at the dealership and learn ‘the road to the sale,’ so to speak,” Davis explains.
Finally, as a follow-up to the Hendrick University session, trainees enroll in a three-day class at the dealership, where they ask more informed questions about the job and review what they’ve learned.
The Hendrick Group uses a selling and management technique created by Kansas-based MBS Inc. called Management By Strength. “You study the temperament traits of people and adjust yourself according to their traits,” explains Davis.
MBS consists of four traits:
– Directness, in which people are hard-driving, decisive and focus on results
– Extroversion, denoting people who are enthusiastic, pleasant and like teamwork
– Pace, describing those of us who are easygoing, well-tempered and plan ahead to avoid being rushed
– Structure, describing well-organized, rule-abiding people who hate making mistakes.
The traits are color-coded — red for directness, green for extroversion, blue for pace, yellow for structure — and Hendrick employees wear nametags with color graphs depicting their MBS traits.
“For instance, when you see a co-worker whose tag has Pace as the highest peak on their graph, you know not to rush them,” explains Davis. “Rick Hendrick has used this for 15 years, and other large corporations use it as well. We teach sales reps to use this technique in reading customers.”
In 2001 the Hendrick Auto Group will incorporate a sales certification program focusing on law and ethics. “We’re also steering new employees down career paths,” adds Davis. “We’re creating a corporate environment to make employees feel they’re a part of the company. It’s this kind of philosophy that’s improving the car salesman image.”
“It’s high time the industry did something about its image,” says Brad Davis, executive general manager of Rick Hendrick Imports on Savannah Highway. “Car dealerships are multi-million-dollar corporations and should take a corporate, professional approach to selling.”
The Hendrick Automotive Group is doing just that with its Charlotte, N.C.-based Hendrick University. There, says Davis, sales trainees take a number of courses, from communication skills to the Hendrick auto dealership’s culture and business philosophy, plus sales training classes.
"A lot of the courses are pretty basic,” says Davis. “Trainees learn how to greet customers, how to present a product, how to take a customer on a road test, how to get to the customer’s real wants and needs to make sure they are being sold the right car. In addition, there are classes in telephone skills, time management and prospecting.”
After the four-day session, trainees return to their regional dealerships and are paired with senior sales reps. “This is when the sales trainees see how things flow at the dealership and learn ‘the road to the sale,’ so to speak,” Davis explains.
Finally, as a follow-up to the Hendrick University session, trainees enroll in a three-day class at the dealership, where they ask more informed questions about the job and review what they’ve learned.
The Hendrick Group uses a selling and management technique created by Kansas-based MBS Inc. called Management By Strength. “You study the temperament traits of people and adjust yourself according to their traits,” explains Davis.
MBS consists of four traits:
– Directness, in which people are hard-driving, decisive and focus on results
– Extroversion, denoting people who are enthusiastic, pleasant and like teamwork
– Pace, describing those of us who are easygoing, well-tempered and plan ahead to avoid being rushed
– Structure, describing well-organized, rule-abiding people who hate making mistakes.
The traits are color-coded — red for directness, green for extroversion, blue for pace, yellow for structure — and Hendrick employees wear nametags with color graphs depicting their MBS traits.
“For instance, when you see a co-worker whose tag has Pace as the highest peak on their graph, you know not to rush them,” explains Davis. “Rick Hendrick has used this for 15 years, and other large corporations use it as well. We teach sales reps to use this technique in reading customers.”
In 2001 the Hendrick Auto Group will incorporate a sales certification program focusing on law and ethics. “We’re also steering new employees down career paths,” adds Davis. “We’re creating a corporate environment to make employees feel they’re a part of the company. It’s this kind of philosophy that’s improving the car salesman image.”
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