Speaker 1: I can just now imagine the phone call between one
Speaker 1: d Okain and missus Okay, who is now on the
Speaker 1: phone saying, you've done, what you're looking at, what you're
Speaker 1: thinking about? What it'll let the proverbial good on your tennis.
Speaker 1: Thank you for that. I had the pleasure a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago of going into a beautiful land Rover
Speaker 1: dealership just over here in Port Melbourne. Spoke to some
Speaker 1: really lovely people there and they said, well, what you're waiting,
Speaker 1: would you like to make yourself a cup of tea
Speaker 1: or a cup of coffee? And I said that would
Speaker 1: be very kind, so I made myself a cup of coffee.
Speaker 1: I happened to notice that the sales manager, good morning
Speaker 1: Ben Ben, was dealing with a client who looked to
Speaker 1: be just collecting his beautiful new motor car, Albeard A.
Speaker 1: Top of thea was a range Rover, large range Rover,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking ballpark, probably two fifty, maybe as close as three.
Speaker 1: And I just sat there watching the delivery process, and
Speaker 1: I was so impressed with the idea, what the what
Speaker 1: for us me immortals, What would that feel like for
Speaker 1: somebody who's in a position to be able to do
Speaker 1: that to go and spend two and a half probably
Speaker 1: three minute, three hundred thousand dollars on a beautiful new
Speaker 1: motor car. The whole ceremony of it was in chanting
Speaker 1: just to watch it. And I did watch it for
Speaker 1: about twenty minutes, and it looked really just a whole
Speaker 1: lot of fun. So it occurred to me, what would
Speaker 1: that be like and is that part of a tradition
Speaker 1: and how important is that in these days? We thought
Speaker 1: we'd find out Paul I miss Auto Kats, PAULA good morning.
Speaker 2: Good morning, Tony and all tuning into three aw overnight.
Speaker 1: It just seemed like a lovely thing to sit back
Speaker 1: and watch that, And I think I mentioned to you
Speaker 1: on the phone what a lovely sort of sense of
Speaker 1: occasion that was.
Speaker 2: Yeah, process, it's it's such an interesting topic when you
Speaker 2: brought it up, actually, because we had a good long
Speaker 2: chat about it, it did, Yeah, you brought it up.
Speaker 2: And then of course I took that experience from Range
Speaker 2: Rover Land Rover into other dealerships and started discussing the
Speaker 2: topic again. Because one size doesn't sit all in dealership's time.
Speaker 2: Every dealership and every brand actually has a completely different delivery.
Speaker 1: Process and so whether you're dealing with somebody at a
Speaker 1: Hendi dealership or in this case where you're dealing with
Speaker 1: you know, a big range Rover jagu JL precinct to
Speaker 1: rend the corner Import Melbourne. I guess the intention is
Speaker 1: the same, is to make the customer feel very special.
Speaker 2: And it's when we're going through sales training we actually,
Speaker 2: I'll never forget years ago they they if I could
Speaker 2: somehow highlight this for listeners that they say that the
Speaker 2: excitement levels are actually reversed from salesperson to consumer. So
Speaker 2: on sale, the salesperson's excited because they've made a sale,
Speaker 2: and the consumer is a little bit nervous and apprehensive
Speaker 2: because they're spending money and they don't know what's going
Speaker 2: on and should they or shouldn't they, But they're on
Speaker 2: the delivery process. The salesperson is a little bit stressed
Speaker 2: out because they have to make sure that everything's perfect
Speaker 2: for the consumer. They have to make sure all of
Speaker 2: their paperwork is right because we don't have PDF electronic signatures.
Speaker 2: I mean, the automotive industry is full of paperwork, still
Speaker 2: nothing is electronic. And the customer, the consumer is excited,
Speaker 2: so it's a very interesting process.
Speaker 1: I'd love to find out, Paula, whether somebody listening who's
Speaker 1: picked up recently, I don't know, say a Highlus from
Speaker 1: Toyota or Ford Ranger or the equivalent from Forward as
Speaker 1: the two leading contestants in terms of people that will
Speaker 1: be listening right now driving to work and need much
Speaker 1: love you the idea of purchasing that car, owning that car,
Speaker 1: taking ownership or that car, would that be any different
Speaker 1: to somebody who's just picked up on top of the
Speaker 1: range Range Rover or I don't know, even a Porsche.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the question is should it be yes? Should it
Speaker 2: be different? See when I was having a chat through
Speaker 2: a couple of managers, actually because I took this question
Speaker 2: to the industry because I think it's actually a brilliant question.
Speaker 2: Should it be different? Should there be a variant in
Speaker 2: the delivery, in the exclusivetivity of the delivery dependent on
Speaker 2: the amount that you're actually purchasing.
Speaker 1: The cut for the other thing that came up, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure you've looked at this too, Paula, is the
Speaker 1: idea of how long a delivery takes. In the days
Speaker 1: where the keys might have just been handed over and
Speaker 1: was goodbye, Thanks for signing the check and off you
Speaker 1: go and see when you come back for a service.
Speaker 1: There's a fair bit of explanation there because some of
Speaker 1: these things are so highly technical.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when we discussed this, Tony was interesting because back
Speaker 2: in the day, as you said, there was there was
Speaker 2: very the features and the benefits of the vehicle just
Speaker 2: weren't as filled or jam packed or loaded or whatever
Speaker 2: terminology you'd like to use as what they are now.
Speaker 2: I mean, the car basically drives itself. So if you
Speaker 2: can imagine, the salesperson has set standards from the manufacturer
Speaker 2: to ensure that we've gone through everything with the customer.
Speaker 2: So the customer will get a survey and say did
Speaker 2: they explain everything? So it's not even just a matter
Speaker 2: of trying to explain everything, it's ensuring that we explain
Speaker 2: it and the customer understands. Now there isn't just turn
Speaker 2: the lights on and also move the seat backwards and
Speaker 2: forwards anymore. And there's the indicators and would you like
Speaker 2: me to possibly pay your phone to the bluetooth when
Speaker 2: that came out. Now we have to go through our connectivity.
Speaker 2: You know, how does RDAR cruise control work? Boots doors,
Speaker 2: everything's electronic, so where the delivery. I remember when I
Speaker 2: was selling cars, the delivery could possibly take two thousand
Speaker 2: and five and six, maybe fifteen to twenty minutes. Now
Speaker 2: it's approximately at least forty five minutes to an hour
Speaker 2: and a half.
Speaker 1: Yeah, to go through it all thoroughly. So that presumably
Speaker 1: customery is is somehow satisfied at endorsing the fact that
Speaker 1: they've made this quite considerable decision.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And then you know what's the most interesting thing
Speaker 2: is the customers will generally Now in this especially, I've
Speaker 2: noticed in the last year or two, with all of
Speaker 2: the new cars coming out, the hybrids and all of
Speaker 2: the new features, a lot of customers are coming back
Speaker 2: to dealerships, and a lot of sales people actually venting
Speaker 2: to me because they just do a lot of sales
Speaker 2: people are actually venting to me saying this is just
Speaker 2: I mean, we love our customers, but they're coming in
Speaker 2: because they're just not understanding the features. They need to
Speaker 2: be explained and shown time and time again. And it's hard.
Speaker 1: Work, yeah, of course, but there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 1: So in terms of based on your experience, in terms
Speaker 1: of dealerships and the trends these days are there gifts?
Speaker 1: There used to be things that be you know, I
Speaker 1: don't know, you put a blanket on the back of
Speaker 1: one seat or something, or to make that whole process
Speaker 1: a little more interesting and take these home the kids.
Speaker 1: Is that sort of also a thing with somebody buying a.
Speaker 2: New co depend it's completely and purely dependent on dealerships.
Speaker 2: So each dealership, generally, and I'll say generally every manufacturer
Speaker 2: franchises their dealerships out to a prive entity, whether it
Speaker 2: be a group or whether it be an individual or
Speaker 2: like a McDonald's franchise, a dealership is actually privately owned,
Speaker 2: so it's actually dependent on that corporate body that decides
Speaker 2: whether they are going to give a gift or not.
Speaker 1: Okay, so that's separate to the agreement, if you like,
Speaker 1: it's over and above exactly.
Speaker 2: And it's funny because how to chat for a few
Speaker 2: people about this topic, just different dealerships, and I just
Speaker 2: wanted to pick their brain, and I said, oh, well,
Speaker 2: how is you know, how is Tony's experience? You know,
Speaker 2: he saw these beautiful gifts being given and one of
Speaker 2: the comments from a particular individual, he said, oh, well,
Speaker 2: you know they're buying a three hundred thousand dollars cars.
Speaker 2: They've got lots of money to give all to give
Speaker 2: all their pretty gifts. But now look gifts gifts every
Speaker 2: dealership at different times. Too hard to set a standard, I.
Speaker 1: Guess yeah, but you can imagine for anybody who's and
Speaker 1: you could have, you know, could who what would it
Speaker 1: be like to go and buy Rolls Royce. For example,
Speaker 1: you're buying the fully electric Rolls Royce, which is going
Speaker 1: to come in over one million dollars well and truly
Speaker 1: these days for the fully electric version in Australia, and
Speaker 1: that's before you've added any real bells and whistles. What
Speaker 1: would that experience be like as the as the salesperson
Speaker 1: is wandering around this incredible.
Speaker 2: Car with you, we have to I say, Tony, you
Speaker 2: and I go down too. I think this is the
Speaker 2: Gami groups that have Roll's voice. I have to double
Speaker 2: check and owns that one now, and we'll have to
Speaker 2: go and find out exactly what they do.
Speaker 1: We should.
Speaker 2: Unless you're up for the purchase.
Speaker 1: That's right? Or do you go in and say, look,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about I don't know where would you even
Speaker 1: start that conversation?
Speaker 2: I would probably just name drop we say, I'll say,
Speaker 2: do you know who this guy is?
Speaker 1: The information that's very kind of you, and that whole
Speaker 1: delivery experience I find absolutely intrigue. And you can imagine
Speaker 1: somebody who's probably buying their let's say a high end
Speaker 1: Benz for example, you're out of Barrick and you're doing
Speaker 1: the deal and it may not be your first, it
Speaker 1: could be your third, fourth, fifth, or sixth.
Speaker 2: Yeah, over a period. Yeah, and you probab this out.
Speaker 2: I want another I don't want another drink, bottle or cap,
Speaker 2: thanks mate, I want a sports bad thank.
Speaker 1: You, that's right. Or I want tickets to the golf
Speaker 1: or something along the line. As I don't know how
Speaker 1: it works these days, but it is fascinating. Paula. It's
Speaker 1: always good to chat. Thank you for getting up nice
Speaker 1: and early, Paula, miss Auto Cats. We catch up with
Speaker 1: Paula every couple of weeks of the program a straighter
Speaker 1: every night.