BMW: Branching out but keeping it simple
Date:
02 September 2014
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Author:
A genius move?
Last year BMW launched a new initiative to have at least one so-called 'BMW Genius' at each dealership designated to helping customers deal with increasing range and technology complexity.
"Their sole purpose is to demonstrate the product, know everything about it - and they are enthusiastic about it," explains BMW's fleet boss Matt Bristow. "They do not have sales targets, there's no hard sell - we're trying to break down barriers because people are nervous about heading into a showroom."
Bristow admits that across all manufacturers there is sometimes a reluctance to help corporate customers, but the Geniuses should help solve that issue.
"With dealers and corporate customers, if you don't have that account, [as a dealer] across all brands, is there a lack of motivation to deal with corporate customers?" he questioned. "A Genius doesn't have a sales target, so it doesn't matter - they should be enthusiastic [about dealing with company drivers that lease].
"It launched last year and anecdotally the feedback has been fantastic," Bristow continues. "Like anything that doesn't correlate to a sales target, it's difficult to assess, but it's driven footfall and satisfaction within the dealership."
Bristow says the number of visits people make to dealers is falling due to the amount of research now conducted online, so the experience when they get to a showroom has to be good.
"Genius is something we should look to promote better, particularly in corporate," he concludes.
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