Be careful when driving in these conditions
- Skills Development
- 11 February 2022
The unnerving event at a Cape Town executive car dealership this week, when a gang of thugs arrived in two taxis, threatened staff, and caused massive damage to many cars on the showroom floor, has opened the question of safety at dealerships.
It’s tough being a Finance and Insurance Manager (F&I Manager) in post-lockdown South Africa.
Don’t be afraid of feeling intimidated by Twitter when considering new ways to market and brand your dealership, while at the same time generating leads, prospects and sales. That is the advice of Khulekani Dumisa, Managing Director at Khulekani on Wheels and KOW Marketing.
In light of the current economic downturn, and pressure on the owners and DPs of independent dealerships, Dealerfloor recently spoke to Prof Tommy du Plessis from North-West University’s Business School; an expert on entrepreneurship and small business management.
Dealerfloor is seeing more sales staff using the Status feature on WhatsApp to show new stock to pre-selected groups.
Business decision-makers often face the dilemma of the extent to which sales will increase with the increase in the advertising budget, as well as where to direct said budget in terms of traditional and digital media. The answer to this matters, especially when companies need to redirect budgets to keep the business afloat.
Dealerfloor has heard of several recent attempted hijackings of demo cars. We knocked on the door of MasterDrive CEO and COO Eugene Herbert to ask about the best practices to prevent hijackings.
Full range of online short courses at TWIMS now available at a discount.
According to Johan Ferreira, retired Dealer Principal (DP) and seasoned sales guru with more than 40 years’ experience, digital support is a novel way to get leads and support your sales efforts, but going back to basics is the only way to reanimate record-producing sales.
Viv Biggs, a former manager in the car trade, still refers to himself as “a used car salesman” despite having been retired from the McCarthy Group longer than most sales execs have been alive. He offers his “two bits” for people setting out in the trade.
The lockdown restrictions on travel and trade have seen the most industrious salespeople venture onto social media and WhatsApp to keep selling and build their sales pipelines. The most successful of these, says Dave Cilliers, have used product and market knowledge as a proxy for trust.
A live read on your local radio station is a quick and often affordable way of letting the town know about any sales specials you are currently running.
Dealerfloor recently met with Thembinkosi Pantsi, dealer principal at Lindsay Saker Audi in Sandton, to find out more about his novel way of marketing on social media.
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You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.
Henry Ford