Too many cars on stock?

How to quickly sell stock automobiles and prepare for new models? Automotive CRM can help. 

The production of automobiles is rapidly declining.  This is due to the sharp drop in demand for new vehicles as a result of the coronavirus.  However, what can be done about stocks of aging models and how can we prepare for the arrival of MY2021?  Automotive CRM can help! 

CRM that is ready for crisis as well as distance selling 

Those of you, that remember the crisis of 2008 to 2010, know that sales are simply different during a crisis.  All of a sudden, customers have more options to choose from.  The ability to hear customer needs and the art of acting quickly and precisely to those needs now takes center stage.  Sales has always been about the art of creating a lead from an opportunity and turning that lead into a sale.  However, this type of art, as opposed to painting a picture, is not about talent, but about technique.  Additionally, as was shown by coronavirus, sometimes it is necessary to radically change our approach and learn to apply our sales skills even to distance selling.  However, some processes and older systems are not ready for that.  

Developed by Konica Minolta, Automotive CRM is a professional comprehensive business solution for sellers of personal and commercial vehicles including motorcycles.  Konica Minolta gathered industry experience during the crisis and post crisis years, which morphed into a solution that is accessible anywhere, anytime and on any device without requiring any of your personnel capacity for system administration.  Salespeople and customers can interact with each other from their homes the same way as they would in the showroom.  Automotive CRM offers them the same information, the same tools, the same processes – all of it with 100% salesperson substitutability.   

Customer insights from every angle 

The key to success is a 360° view of every customer on two levels.  Automotive CRM can combine all customer information that your company has on file.  Even if the customer was in contact with a different branch or discussing a different brand that you sell.  Test drives, service, purchased vehicles, sent questionnaires, information requests, catalogs, etc. – you will find all of it in one place.  Questions like “what type of radio was in the car that I test drove?” will no longer catch you by surprise.  And you won’t be surprised when the customer asks the question on newly relevant channels like Facebook or Instagram, instead of contacting “their” salesperson in a traditional fashion.  

Automotive CRM gives you a 360° view of all customer communications. What they said in person, what they asked about over e-mail, social network interactions, and their satisfaction with the service department.  Everyone that comes into contact with the customer has all of that information at their fingertips with one click on a PC, mobile, tablet…pretty much anywhere.   

Those who hesitate will have a bigger problem than “just” too many vehicles on stock 

Customer knowledge and a fair approach build trust, which is rare into today’s uncertain times and can be appreciated by the customer.  Often, trust, complimented by the ability to quickly react to customer requirements, means more money in your pocket.  In fact, why would a customer risk feeling unwelcome for just a small discount of 1-3% somewhere else.  Additionally, a new car buyer will happily return for service to the same location they bought their vehicle.  Automotive CRM can be implemented in your company within one month.  Connecting to existing systems and multi-brand incorporation is naturally part of the solution.   

Do you want to know more about Automotive CRM?  Contact us.  

EV Revolution?

3 reasons why you might not need to sell electric cars

The McKinsey EV index shows that sales of electric cars increased by 65% in 2018. But last year, dealers showed sales of electric cars rising by onl y 9% more year-on-year, and in the first quarter of this year, even before the coronavirus crisis, sales of electric cars fell by 25%. And it will get worse. What is happening with the electric car market and why do people suddenly not want them?

Sales built on government subsidies

One of the main reasons why electric cars are starting to lose their momentum is a decline in subsidies. A typical example is Norway, a country with a huge landmass, low population density, and enormous distances between cities.  The most electric cars are sold in Norway out of all of Europe.

Norway has been systematically promoting electromobility since 1990. During that time, it prepared a wide range of various incentives, which, however, made the purchase of an electric car economically beneficial the end consumer. In short, an electric car often has a lower TCO than a similar car with an internal combustion engine. The success of this strategy is also evidenced by the fact that in April 2020, 10% of vehicles on Norwegian roads were purely electric.

Tools to support EV sales included zero import duties, zero VAT on purchases and leasing, zero annual registration tax, zero tolls, zero or reduced ferry fees, free parking in cities, access to bus lanes, and reduced taxes for companies. However, some of these benefits have already been canceled or reduced by the Norwegians. In some cities, it has even become problematic to park a car with an internal combustion engines. And government support is changing even in other countries. An example is Hong Kong, a former exhibition of electromobility, where a significant reduction in  government support for EVs in 2017 literally killed all sales of electric cars, especially Tesla, which had an 80% market share.

Tesla is a seller of user experience, not electric cars

It was Tesla who became a symbol of electromobility, although it has still failed to reach the first place in EV sales. According to JATO Dynamics, it has long belonged to the strategic alliance of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi. But Tesla does not owe its success to the chosen drivetrain. Its popularity is based on a completely different, and at the time, innovative user interface, on the user experience, when the car acquires new functions even after its purchase. And in recent years also on Autopilot. That is, on the relatively average set of assistance systems that are now offered by a number of other car manufacturers. Only Tesla can sell them much better. However, Tesla’s marketing also seems to have convinced a number of carmakers that the future must be electric. But sales numbers don’t show that, and in recent years there have been more and more pitfalls around EVs.

Where should I charge my electric car?

The main pitfall is already being shown to be charging. By this we do not mean the length of charging time, but rather the lack of charging points and the blocking of charging stations by cars with internal combustion engines or unruly EV drivers. The problem with charging stations is even more complex. The bottlneck is the electrical distribution network. Modern 350 kW and soon even 1200 kW charging stations need adequately dimensioned high-voltage distribution and, of course, energy sources.

Eco-EV myths

And this is where electric cars take a hit for a second time. It turns out that the illusion of zero CO2 emissions is really just an illusion. One after another, studies are showing that modern diesel or gasoline engines actually produce much less CO2 than EVs. The amount of CO2 / km produced naturally depends on the structure of energy sources. In India, EVs produce 370 g CO2 / km, in China 258 g CO2 / km and in the United States, 202 g CO2 / km. In France, where they have the highest share of nuclear power plants, their EVS produce “only” 93 g CO2 / km. Just a reminder – the limits set by the EU regulation EC 443/2009 for next year are 95 g CO2 / km. And when it comes to ecology, the issue of lithium, its mining and recycling cannot be avoided. And even that is now being addressed more and more. Does it matter thatWell, maybe in the next 10 years it won’t matter at all…

Sources:

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/automotive-and-assembly/our-insights/mckinsey-electric-vehicle-index-europe-cushions-a-global-plunge-in-ev-sales#

https://europe.autonews.com/sales-segment/europes-no-1-selling-ev-isnt-tesla-or-vw

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plug-in_electric_vehicles_in_Norway

https://electrek.co/2017/02/22/hong-kong-electric-vehicle-incentives-tesla/

https://electrek.co/2018/02/28/hong-kong-electric-cars-incentives-tesla/

https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-supercharger-station-becomes-an-ice-parking-lot/

https://insideevs.com/news/347476/350-kw-12-mw-fast-charging-ess-norway/

http://shrinkthatfootprint.com/electric-car-emissions

Photo by Ralph Hutter on Unsplash

“Let your heart beat faster” or how not to advertise a car

The whole world knows about the ad for the new Audi RS 4. However, this is not due to the qualities of the car. The Audi brand has escaped relatively unscathed.  However in the hands of dealerships, such advertising could have catastrophic consequences. How do you actually make a good advertisement, and what should you watch out for?

Just a bit of a pedo-feeling

“We sincerely apologize for this insensitive image and ensure that it will not be used in future. We will also immediately examine internally, how this campaign has been created and if control mechanisms failed in this case.”

Audi is eating a humble pie for their advertising campaign with a four-year-old defiant girl in a mini dress, dark glasses, and a large banana in her hand, leaning on the front of an Audi RS 4.  All that with the title “Let your heart beat faster – in every aspect.”  Audi was apparently referring to the fact that: “The Audi RS 4 is a family car with more than thirty driver assistance systems including an emergency brake system,”  which incidntally will be required on all new vehicles in the EU from May 2022. However, it seems that the public, at least the one on Twitter, saw this advertisement as more of an attempt to transform a tiny girl into a kind of sexual symbol. This sparked an unprecedented wave of resentment. At first, Audi tried to “put out” the situation, by releasing an apology only 26 hours after publishing the advertisement.

We hoped we could convey these messages, showing that even for the weakest traffic participants it is possible to relaxingly lean on the RS technology. That was a mistake! Audi never intended to hurt anyone’s feelings. (2/3)

— Audi (@AudiOfficial) August 3, 2020

However, part of the public does not understand what is actually happening at all, because they do not see any phallic symbol in the banana and do not perceive a girl wearing certain clothes and posing as an adult as sexual. This is probably also the reason why this ad passed through Audi. No one realized another possible interpretation of what someone internally presented as the communication concept of the Audi RS 4 as a family car.

Advertising that can destroy you

In the days of coronavirus and the coming crisis, this exorbitance will be forgotten as quickly as it arose. For Audi, which produces almost 1.9 million cars a year, this is unlikely to have any economic consequences. But if it were to happen to a dealer, the consequences in the local market could be fatal. The dealership will get negative publicity for its target group, and the importer will be doubly unenthusiastic about the move. Regardless of whether he had previously approved the ad or not. So the first piece of advice is – show your ad to someone “on the street”. Someone who is unfamiliar with the creative process and who is ideally outside your target group. To be fair, most Twitter commentators in this case were also not high-performance Audi owners.

Three things to watch out for when advertising

This is certainly a question that many advertising agencies ask themselves. In reality, however, the preparation of an advertising campaign may not be as risky as it may seem in the light of Audi’s slander. Just follow three simple rules:

• Do not sexualize children, not even teenagers. People who have children of the same age will always be very sensitive to this.
• Don’t sexualize women. Yes, it is still true that sex attracts attention. But it no longer has to be true that it sells as well. Moreover, that interest has long been no longer positive. Sexism is not in. Photoshopping women in advertisements is no longer in. The former is awarded national and international sexist anti-prizes, and the latter is the subject of a number of influencers around the world. After all, women also buy cars, and not just family ones. So you do want to attract women with advertising, just not offend them.
• Forget about “funny” double meanings. As much as someone may like it, part of the audience will always be offended. Maybe also because they do not understand the joke straightaway.

Take advantage of the mistakes of automakers

And is there any guide on how to guarantee a “good” advertisement? Yes, just learn from the mistakes of automakers. There are highly rated ads, such as the one from Porsche. And sometimes you can use that disgrace to your advantage. More than one Audi dealer started offering free bananas with a purchase. Those who hate the advertising with a girl see this as a mockery of Audi. Those who do not see anything wrong then can make fun of those who find it offensive. And the dealers? They just make money on it…

Automotive CRM at Microsoft Awards

Konica Minolta Automotive CRM was recognised as a finalist for „Retail, FMCG and e-tail“ category during the Czech Republic Microsoft Awards 2019 ceremony.

Every lead counts. Konica Minolta rolls out its Microsoft-certified Automotive CRM

Never have successful conversions of customer leads been more important for car dealerships than in the current economic situation. A strong relationship with the customer is very important for this. In order to support its automotive retail customers in this area, Konica Minolta has developed Automotive CRM. Built on Microsoft Dynamics 365, this Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution provides a powerful tool for capturing, managing and successfully utilising customer information in an car dealer’s marketing and sales activities. Konica Minolta’s Automotive CRM has now been certified by Microsoft as one of a very select group of independent software vendor (ISV) solutions. It is therefore also available via Microsoft AppSource (kmits.cz/appsourceautomotivecrm), the company’s store for business solutions. The product has been developed in the Czech Republic and Konica Minolta is planning to roll out the solution to its customers in other European countries as well as, in the next stage, globally.

 

 

We are committed to supporting our automotive retail customers by helping them leverage their leads in the best way possible with our solutions.

Martin Pondělíček, Managing Director of Konica Minolta IT Solutions Czech