[saikishor]

Today(infact an hour ago), I visited a Hyundai dealership to test drive the i20 N line. This was long on my list but I couldnt do it. To my surprise, the i20 N line was not there in the dealership. All they had was an Exter, i20, Venue and an Alcazar. The test drive vehicle had apparently gone for service. The sales guy took my number and told me that he'd call back once the car comes back.

While driving back home, I had this thought in my mind. How would a dealership be if a Team-BHPian ran it? Well, if I were to open a dealership, here's what I'd do:

Train the sales staff properly about the vehicles in the store: This is a very common problem. 99% of the staff are not well informed of the products they have, most of them are just here to make a living and a quick buck. For eg, I asked the Hyundai SA about since when did Hyundai start to offer 3 headrests in the backseat. He gave an answer, but that was not appropriate enough.

No forcing of customers for booking: Even this is a very common phenomenon. Salesguys are hell bent on a booking regardless of if you like the car or not. I mean, I absolutely hate this pressurization from sales staff. I understand it is business for them, but giving customers their own time would go a long way in building reputation.

Having all models for display: Most of the dealerships don't have all of their models for display, instead they show it to you on a screen. Heck, I do this before coming to the showroom, what for will they show the same thing to me again?

Differentiating between who is an actual customer and who wants to have a look: This irks me the most. Once you tell them you just came to have a look at the car, thats it don't expect an answer to even simple questions like if the car that is on display runs on petrol or diesel. I would train my staff to atleast respect the person for his interest towards the brand. He came to the showroom because he was interested. Least one can do is give him a test drive, and who knows if he likes the product he might end up buying it.

No denial of test drive requests: I would try my best to honour all test drive requests and not dismiss them off due to silly reasons like you havent booked the vehicle why should I give you etc etc

Showroom Ambience: I really liked the new Tata.ev showrooms. The cafe themed setup really caught my eye. I would try to do something similar. If the brand has a performance or some other separate division of products, I would try to create a separate space which is appropriately themed which would suit the vehicles on display in that section.

These were some ideas I had. Would love to hear others opinions as well.

[CentreOfGravity]

@saikishore, please go ahead and start a franchise, your plan of action is just perfect. Team-BHP will bless you with good luck and success. But just one request = please start Tata dealerships before anything else . I can only imagine the showroom experience if a BHPian owned dealership network replaces the current ones

[dhanushs]

While it sounds really rosy and enthusiastic from a customer point of view, if a Team-bhpian starts a dealership he becomes the business ower and priorities will change for him. If the things that you have mentioned drives profits then well & good, otherwise he will be forced to retract to practices which his business model supports.

I'm guessing the best thing that he can do is to get his own car waxed every month and get genuine parts for friends and family with a 20% discount.

[saikishor]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

While it sounds really rosy and enthusiastic from a customer point of view, if a team-bhpian starts a dealership he becomes the business ower and priorities will change for him. If the things that you have mentioned drives profits then well & good, otherwise he will be forced to retract to practices which his business model supports.

I'm guessing the best thing that he can do is to get his own car waxed every month and get genuine parts for friends and family with a 20% discount.

I understand at the end of the day business is business and money is money, but that was the whole point of this thread. I don't want to go to a business perspective, I was only curious about how BHPians would do things if they were to run a dealership.

Originally Posted by CentreOfGravity

@saikishore, please go ahead and start a franchise, your plan of action is just perfect. Team-BHP will bless you with good luck and success. But just one request = please start Tata dealerships before anything else . I can only imagine the showroom experience if a BHPian owned dealership network replaces the current ones

Oh man if I could I'd do it right away. But dealership business is no joke and has a lot of money(A LOT) involved in it. So for time being, lets keep this only till ideas

[Rajeevraj]

There are several Bhpians who run businesses in the automotive domain. Not exactly dealerships but related to Tires, Detailing, Remaps and Tuning(that I personally know off-Am sure there are a lot more). I have used services of Bhpian run businesses and the experience has always been good.

Having said that, I don't think their business is run well because they are Bhpians, they are just good customer oriented businessmen who happen to be Bhpians.

The points you mentioned are some good ones with respect to what all a good dealership needs to do. I don't think being a bhpian changes that in any manner.

[saikishor]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

The points you mentioned are some good ones with respect to what all a good dealership needs to do. I don't think being a bhpian changes that in any manner.

IMO only a bhpian can think that far, a regular money minded person will not care much about the points that I mentioned.

[omar]

Originally Posted by saikishor

I understand at the end of the day business is business and money is money, but that was the whole point of this thread. I don't want to go to a business perspective, I was only curious about how BHPians would do things if they were to run a dealership.

You actually can't separate the two. Even if it is Team Bhp member, he has to do it to make profits.

These are good practices for sure. Would love to see them implemented, but they are quite cost/ capital intensive. Quite tough to compete realistically, if others are cutting corners here.

What would be realistically possible and easiest for any firm, would be Staff training and Customer experience. For example, you don't need to have all cars for a test drive as it may not be financially viable. You don't even need to necessarily invest in the best interiors. But if you have a professional staff who are customer centric, a lot of the other heavy investment areas you have listed can be overlooked by a happy customer. Many of the team bhp members with existing vehicle related businesses operate on this model.

[GTO]

To be brutally honest, when you run a car dealership, it's an everyday fight between spiralling operating costs (property rent, cost of inventory, staff salaries etc.) and profitability. You are handling customers on the one hand, and the OEM on the other. I would expect a BHPian-owned car / bike dealership to have better customer service than one owned by an "investor", but really....passion can only take you so far. As an example, I know of many car dealerships run by non-enthusiasts, but astute businessmen who care about efficiency + customer service, and their customer satisfaction levels are topnotch.

It's an incredibly brutal business. Automotive passion counts for 10% of the skills required. The other 90% is operational, financial, HR & business acumen.

[5252rpm]

Agree with the comments. I swear everybody currently in the business knows these gaps but there are multiple barriers. Especially at most of the time, you won't get OEM support, or you are in fierce competition. If we take it point by point

1. Train staff properly: Dealerships does not run a training center, it is managed by manufacturers.
2. No force of customers to book cars : Your daily, weekly reviews are sales pipelines. Enquiry to booking is a top KPI. They do this also because customers are always confused while buying the car. A compulsion is needed from the sales/showroom experience side to zero down.
3. Having all model for display : This is subjected to real estate available in the showroom. They prioritize based on market trend. If you cant spot a Ciaz or Ignis in a NEXA showroom, that's for a reason that its at its end of life.
4. Taking look vs buying : As I said, enquiry to sales is the KPI. They are questionable for all Enquiries. The thumb rule is sales and sales only.
5. Test drive denial: This is a valid point and as SOP they are not supposed to.
6. Showroom experience: There is a brand theme suggested by manufacturers on how the experience inside showroom is. SOPs are set. Overriding this is not easy. Manufacturers are also employing methods like mystery shopping to ensure that SOPs are met.

In a nutshell, team bhpian should be an OEM rather than dealer partner to address most of the concerns.

[Vikash Kumawat]

If you are going to open car dealerships then please open one branch in Jaipur too, it will be heaven to deal with the same person from our community

[Spikky-ZX Throt]

1. Comprehensive market research- local demand, competition, Customer preference and satisfaction.
2. Can have interactive displays.
3. Diverse inventory.
4. Non denial of test drive request.

But all these points aside as said by previous members on the post. Even though the dealership is being opened by one of our members, the ultimate thing which will keep the ball rolling is the profits. From that point of view as the time flies by the Profit will take over the passion. whatever is done need to have a realistic approach.

[Mystic]

Ignorance is a bliss sometimes. This topic is highly debatable and the following is my personal view. Most of the time it is helpful if one is leading an organisation without being an expert in that field for example a medical doctor leading ministry of health etc. Knowing the details and micro managing is a risk at leadership level as the responsibility at the highest level needs to be done by a person who has a holistic view of all departments like a jack of all trades and not a master of one. This holistic perspective is good for the company in general. I feel petrolheads like a teambhpian heading an automotive dealership may not make a big difference for the business.

I implemented an IT solution to the biggest Lexus dealer in Dubai long back. My job is to make the life of SA / workshop managers life easier at the workshop in planing day to day activities of allocating appropriate skilled technicians and tracking 600 cars being serviced at peak day as in Fridays. Ideally one would think that an IT or PC savvy educated guy would do the job efficiently but I was surprised that prior to me landing in Dubai, there was one guy from Kerala who was not much highly educated doing this job for the past 20 years without any help of computer application. One need be skilled but one should have work ethics, passion and enjoy the work without treating as a paid job. Anybody can excel and not necessarily a person who is an SME in that field.

[sudeep.pandya]

Just been through an 8 month long selection process with MSIL.

So yes, there will be a BHPian in future with an MSIL dealership. Got selected.

[sv5lh44]

So basically you want to be like Decathlon of this industry

[JunkyardHunter]

Originally Posted by saikishor;5843658t
[B

Having all models for display:[/b]

This is, in my opinion, one of the most unlikely ones given on the list. Real estate is at a premium (especially here in Mumbai). It might be OK for brands like Honda or Nissan, who have a total product portfolio of >5 cars. Any more than that however and IF the space is available, you'll be shelling out a lot to buy/rent that property.