Sales process

Sizzling bacon enticing you to buy the product

Can you smell the marketing?

The advert is now over 50 years old, but a lot of senior managers will remember the television advert. Do you?

Way back in the early 70’s a european bacon company took sights on the English market and sold us the sizzle in a memorable way. So memorable that many people, around at that time, will probably announce it before you ask them.

Are you one of them? Do you remember the company?

To save you hunting through Google, I can save you some time. It was ‘Danish’ and they went to the added step of printing ‘~~Danish~~’ along the sliced side in wavy writing. Just in case you forgot.

It was a brilliant TV advert based upon the ‘#Sell the Sizzle, not the steak’ marketing theory started in the 1930’s by #Elmer Wheeler.

The idea was not just based upon steaks, or bacon, or sausages. Instead the concept was to sell the benefits of a particular product. And since you couldn’t sell the attractive benefit of a smell in the 1930’s the next best thing was the sound it makes. Baking was out, not a whisper comes from a slowly rising cottage loaf, but target a slice of bacon, fried egg or browning sausage gently frying conjures up a mouth watering dish.

But that was then. Does the sizzle campaign work in the same way in 2024?

Back then, the UK only had one advertising channel, so the target audience was pretty much nailed in place when the advert aired at 6:30pm on a Wednesday evening.

But with thousands of streaming adverts, BLOG posts such as this one, Twitter posts . . . . the list goes on, and you probably get the message. That sizzle is pretty much washed away with all that background noise.

But it can still work with email advertising. As our partner at #eSend has been seeing month in month out since they opened their doors 10 years ago, if you can find the right message you can induce the potential customer down a series of steps, a journey to your website.

Make it sizzle enough for someone to open the email in the first place.
Make opening sentence intriguing enough to get the customer to open the images or videos on your website.
Using the whole email, give them a reason to click the link and head over towards your site.

Where another level of marketing will take place, with a similar number of steps, enticing the customer to click on the link to ‘Buy this product’

Email marketing can be measured in a number of ways. Google Analytics (GA4) is the favourite for many as it allows you to step away from a fixed email providers stats and track not just the original email campaign but also what the customers did when they actually got to your site.

Don’t be fooled by high click thru rates. Most customers read emails without opening them, and too many sexy sicial media campaigns use #clickbait to get you to just click on the link, only for it to send you to a completely different site than the one you were expecting.

I hope you don’t view the sizzling image of bacon above as #clickbait. This blog really was about helping your marketing stand out from the crowd. It’s about finding out which one of your messages is working best for you.

Do you –

Use Google Analytics or similar to track campaigns?
Do you need help setting something like that up?
Do you send out similar emails to see which one works best? (#A/B Testing)
Do you follow through email clicks to different web site landing pages?

If you want help you may want to give us a call here at Cymark or speak to eSend directly. I have attached the link to their page below.

eSend email marketing

Simple customer journey starts with an interest, purchasing a produc or service through to recommending your company.

5 Major Benefits of Outsourced Telemarketing.

Today, many retailers try to outsource their telemarketing to an expert team. It is the right option for a number of reasons. Do you wonder if outsourced telemarketing can work for your dealership?

A trained and professional telemarketing team for the motor trade.

Cost effective.

Hiring a third party company for telemarketing is one of the best approaches to increase vehicle sales and workshop bookings for both small and large dealerships. When you have a large in-house sales team in the showroom, it becomes too expensive to have a matching bank of trained telesales exec’s to keep up with the on / off demand.

Outsourced telemarketing, with a specialist company is a solid investment and, frankly, it is cheaper than any other marketing method.

Skilled workforce.

The ability to communicate over the phone makes telemarketing successful. Hiring a third party telemarketing expert means that you are getting telemarketers who are well versed and trained in the art of motor trade customer contact over the telephone. Well-motivated and experts in getting results.

Flexibility.

Telemarketing is not only about calling leads, but also shortlisting potential customers – looking to buy within the next couple of weeks from the tyre kickers not really looking to buy until the autumn.

Cymark can dedicate time, flexibly, to make the telemarketing calls when they need to be done. When they are most convenient for your customers and when they are likely to give you the best return. To achieve this you want an experienced and skilled telemarketing company to work with you.

Greater sale conversion.

Successful retailers are linking their internet and telephone enquiries, first to an immediate response sales executive in the showroom, then on to a trained team who can qualify properly, find the hot spots that will convert a prospect to a customer. A skilled customer support representative contacting a customer helps generate a sale and improves the conversion rate for the whole team.

Return on Investment.

A major advantage of outsourcing telemarketing is that both objectives – sales today / sales tomorrow – can be measured from the very beginning. Outsourcing your telemarketing services will both authenticate what your true conversion rate is, from engaging with customers as a third party, and see that identified opportunities are followed up and converted. Every metric and analysis is important and makes the whole sales team generate greater success.

Challenges of outsourcing telemarketing.

Since your telemarketing operation will be handled by a third party company, direct supervision may become a bit challenging. Choose a third party partner with the ability and the correct experience becomes vital. A specialised telemarketing company that offers relevant analysis and metrics is an incredible thing to have.

Language limitations.

Is it right for you? It is important to make sure the language spoken is compatible with the target audience, is this the voice that the customer is expecting to hear? A customer from the north west is more likely to trust either a non-geographic or northern accent. A good third party provider will have trained telemarketers that are clear and professional.

Confidentiality.

Data protection and GDPR are key. Ensure you speak to a third part company that has a long experience of working with, and protecting, your most valuable asset. Your sales data and prospect data.

Do they work with people you know, not flaunting their own customer base may be important, if they preserve the confidence of their own clients, they are likely to preserve yours.

The plan.

Outline what you expect to see from the collaboration. How you expect the success’s and failures to be communicated back to your own management team. Don’t get tied into a long term contract, can you engage the company on a month by month basis. Are they confident enough int heir own ability to do that.

Conclusion.

The increasing number of retailers that are opting for outsourced telemarketing is proof that dealerships understand the advantages and benefits. The rapid pace of technology within the motor trade, new products, new drive trains is making showroom executives time ever more precious.

Outsourcing with either an in-house team or outside agency, finding a company that can both save you money, increase your conversion rate and reduce you liability.

Get in touch with us at info@cymark.co.uk or sales@cymark.co.uk to learn how to maximise your conversion rate and be on top of the trends.

You’ve never had it so good!

And that’s not just a flippant statement. As you may be aware Cymark has been going for nearly 30 years, and have some pretty long standing retailers within the Motor Trade. So I am being honest when I say that our clients are seeing more new and used car enquiries, per month, than any time in the past 10 years.

So, why are manufacturers throwing lots of money at the job?

We are all familiar with the various brands getting behind the dealer network when we are working our way through a recession or an economic slump. But why are they chasing registrations today?

Well the answer may be slightly more than bragging rights this time.

SMMT figures are really strong on car sales at the moment, but a good percentage of those registrations are from orders taken 6, 9, 12 months ago when cars weren’t available and the electric vehicle world in particular looked slightly brighter.

So while overall enquiries are up hugely, the percentage that are new car enquiries is falling.

I don’t want to be cynical and say its because people don’t like EV’s, but perhaps people don’t like the price they are being asked to pay for a cleaner ride?

Have we just moved people from being consistent new car customers to repeat used car customers?

But is that a problem?

Our enquiry follow up team have been really busy this year, making sure that retailers get the most from their enquiries, with a number of sites saying they were concerned that – if they left it to their own sales team – they would miss opportunities. They just didn’t have enough hours in the day to sort through a mixture of tyre kickers and genuine buyers.

Check for yourself. How many overdue contacts do you have in the DMS. Are they all these used car enquiries or are they new car enquiries chasing the big discounts being offered?

Cymark, supporting the Motor Trade for 29 years

Cymark. 29 years young

Cymark celebrates 29 years providing no commitment telemarketing and email campaign support to the Motor Trade.

‘My god, you made it to 29 years.’ This has happened a few times this week. Not quite as catchy as 25 years, or 30 years, but 29 years is a long time supporting one industry.

A great thank you must go to everyone who has worked for Cymark during that time. Lots of late nights and hard graft. You laid the foundations for today’s company.

In those decades, we have worked for numerous manufacturers and hundreds of individual retailers, providing successful and cost effective telemarketing and e-marketing for retail sales, local business and LCV sales and database building, aftersales service bookings and post service follow up.

The pandemic brought a lot of changes. Cymark streamlined its processes (we got rid of the big white binders so many of you remember). It’s all online and easily accessible. We still make on-site visits, we want to make sure we are doing it right for your retailer.

Successful industry marketing and comments are included within other blog pages. Make sure you subscribe.

Guy Winter

01423 501234

07711 978908

Have a look at the links across the top of the page for Retail / Service / Sales Conversion information.

Customer receiving the key to her new car

The Answer : Conversion rates in the USA

Following on from my earlier article, ‘The Rise and Fall of Used Car Sales’ , I’ve been doing a little digging while on my business trip to America.

You may remember, I questioned the difference in the conversion rates sales executives were seeing in America compared with the UK. American trade articles and websites were telling me that 50%-60% of customer enquiries are buying, continuing to be the norm, and everything was rolling along GREAT.

Car sales executive selling in a showroom

To see for myself, if it really was that much better than the UK – where 20%-25% is the accepted norm – I tried a little experiment.

The mystery shop.

To call it a mystery shop would be misleading. I was actually looking to buy an SUV, I just visited a lot more dealerships than I would normally.

Out of all of them, only 12.5% actually asked me for my contact details. That’s one in 8.

Now the US advertised conversion rate percentage makes sense. If a sales exec is only going to record the name of a customer if they are waving a credit card under their nose, then a 50%-60% conversion makes sense.

But what about all those ‘potential’ customers? ‘Me’ for example. I’m still sat here looking to buy a mid-range SUV, and the phone has only rang once.

The only dealership to ask for my contact number and email address AND actually send me something immediately and follow that up by telephone 24hrs later was the Kia Dealership in St Petersburg.

I will say, all of the staff, in all of the dealerships – with the noticeable exception of BMW – were very polite and professional. They provided all of the information I needed and it was a pleasurable experience.

But I have no idea why the other, 7/8, dealerships didn’t ask for my number allowing them to call me.

Maybe its fear around GDPR and data protection in America. But as I had walked into the showroom, sat in their cars and said ‘I WANT TO BUY A CAR’, I think that covers future contact under legitimate interest.

So it looks like the USA or rather 87.5% of US car dealerships, actually have a 20% conversion rate. They just, collectively, dropped the ball by not asking all of the customers that walk through the door for their telephone numbers.

I was surprised. Disappointed. But surprised for sure.

The rise and fall of the used car market

The Rise and Fall of Used Car Sales

The fluctuation in both demand and used car prices continues its meteoric rise and ‘off a cliff’ fall though Qtr4.

The rise and fall of demand, profit and used car stock during 2023. Do we have too much stock making too little money now

Looking back through various trade articles issued in 2023, this is certainly nothing new. It’s just that previously there was quite an overlap between demand, availability and profit per unit that retailers were able to hold onto.

But is this a return to Qtr4 figures of old?

Mixed opinions, 2/3 of retailers are saying this is what we have always experienced and only a 1/3 saying the problems are due to retailers are now expecting car sales profits to continue month in, month out through the whole year.

Its not surprising that Manheim reported that conversion rates were falling, the ratio dropping a 1/5th on the same period in 2019.

We can however, report that our retailers are seeing a healthy increase in enquiry levels – hugely in the case of used cars from monthly figures over the past 4 years.

And, their conversion rates are holding up strong, but then they are using our enquiry follow-up / lost sale programmes so it is a little difficult to predict how other retailers are fairing.

If you’re conversion rates are not what you’re expecting it then it might be worth trying a sample batch of calls with Cymark. At least you would get a true picture of what your customers are saying.

Back in the market, particularly the UK, the reluctance to take anything electrical in part exchange continues – unless you have an outlet for the car – as their prices continue to fall heavily week to week.

Traditionally stock of the expensive models has always been run down over the winter months, just so you didn’t have to write them down. I think that is still continuing, it’s just that the number of cars that now fall into that ‘expensive model’ category has risen so much.

“Don’t get caught with it”, still prevails.

US / UK Conversion rates.

I was interested, while here in America, that US retailers expect a 50%-60% conversion rate, while in the UK, 25% is the more generally accepted average. It does make me wonder if either the customers are a lot more switched on and margins are lower in the States or – which is my probable leaning – the UK retailers are much better at getting contact details for ‘any customer that enquired’.

All I can say is, out of all the car buying customers I know in America, very few have ever had a follow up call or DM piece relating to a similar car they enquired about 2 months ago (or 6 months or 2 years!).

If you want a little more information about conversion rates and how to keep them strong. Drop me a message below and subscribe to the blog or Cymark on social media.

Greetings from America

I’m currently on my bi-annual work trip to America and wanted to bring you first hand news of current dealerships impression from this side of the Atlantic.

As in the UK, manufacturers are still hyping up the benefits of going electric, but US retailers are confirming that the buying public just isn’t behind it.

Comparison between Ford America and Ford UK. Two models shown side by side.

First adopters in urban homes, where location permits, are running two ‘main’ cars having an extra model on the driveway, a petrol for the longer trips and an electric for the commute.

A huge difference in incentive – Over here there seems to be a real mixed bag covering what drivers can get charged for –

Purchase Tax on the car varies state to state and can be as little as 0% right up to 7% of the cars value. Obviously if you live near one of those 0% state borders, it is probably worth making a weekend of it and driving some distance to pick up the car.

Emission Tax? well, no. Not really. There is a gas guzzler tax aimed at the economy of the car itself but not the amount of CO2 that comes out. This is apparently changing in the future, but many owners are sceptical.

MOT. Again, it varies State to State, but even the states that do have a vehicle test, that test is mainly limited to the time the car is sold from a retailer and isn’t comparable to the UK test. For the rest of the States it is definitely buyer beware.

As one owner put it. “Why do I need to buy electric if no one is checking? Sure, I want to help save the planet, but not at that cost.”

This is echoing the message we are hearing back in the UK through our enquiry follow up calls.

The calls are designed to improve the conversion rate of all the enquiries that land at a retailer, which it most certainly does, but the – ‘reason for not purchasing your car’ – response is very enlightening.

The number of customers that don’t really like the hands off, on-line only option is very high in the UK, outside of those customers that will always choose the latest thing, and its the same in America. A lot of disbelief that it will work at all, despite Hyundai ramping up their plans to sell new cars through Amazon.

More and more customers are waiting to see what the future is bringing, some very cheap Asian cars, hydrogen or yet another change in the rules. If Ford America can pull back from building a new electric battery factory in Europe, “there must be something in it”, is their reasoning.

The resale value of EV’s after 7 years is worrying many customers, driving down the used car value and PX prices. Some of the depreciation reported is frightening potential buyers.

One both sides of the pond. We really need to keep an eye on what customers are thinking. Sure, to sell more cars, but also to get a better idea of what our customers are really thinking.

Give me a call.

Have a look > Cymark Enquiry Follow Up

Good News – They were just sleeping

Some good news for a change. The enquiries from Qtr2 and Qtr3, that didn’t buy, are still there.

As the old saying goes – “Deal or Dead”, well they didn’t die. They were just asleep and now they are buying.

We just need to make sure it is from you!

A customer sleeping, still in the market, just waiting to be woken up by Cymark and your sales team.

Having made enquiry and lost sale follow up calls for Motor Dealers for over 25 years we have a pretty good picture of what goes on in the showroom and in the sales exec’s mind.

“It was ages ago. If they still want to buy, they will come back to me.”

Which as we all know is complete rubbish.

We prefer the adage, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get”. Well that’s what we do, on your behalf so you don’t have to rely upon a disenchanted sales exec’ doing it.

AND THE GREAT NEWS.

Opportunities are flowing back into the showroom, not just from enquiries a month ago (25%) but from customers that didn’t buy during Qtr2 and Qtr3.

A number of retailers are using these older records much like a mini-event campaign, much lower numbers, but we can work through them. AND the deals are coming in.

Do you have stock you didn’t have in May or June?

Do you have a lower rate finance or contribution support from your brand?

Then now is the time to contact those outstanding customers.

If you want to make sure it happens give Cymark a call or have a look on the website, or the Blog pages for similar updates. Its worth a look –

CLICK TO SEE ENQUIRY FOLLOW UP

CLICK FOR OTHER RETAIL SALE OPTIONS

Head in the Sand – Come on Europe.

Who remembers the 1970’s ? And I don’t mean the weird music and dress sense. I’m talking about the motor trade for both cars and motorbikes.

In the UK, we were proud of our heritage with motor bikes. We built the best. Ok, they were a bit long in the tooth and you didn’t get much. But it was all about image. And no foreign manufacturers from the East could beat that.

But history proved us wrong. We were slow to compete, couldn’t offer the same value for money and, basically, over the next 10 years the British motor cycle industry died.

Has the European Motor Trade got it’s head in the sand?

Have they forgotten the lessons from the British past?

The Europeans make some bloody good cars. Not just the German models, but the British, Swedish and French as well.

But the Chinese are coming.

How long will the European motor industry last if the Chinese arrive with fully electric models from £10,000? It would have to be an amazing European car that could complete with that while costing £40,000.

Remember the buying public. The early adopters rushed towards the latest European Tesla copies, sure they were better made. But you paid a pretty price. Not all drivers will do that.

So, to compete with the Chinese, will Mercedes knock 20% off the price of their cars? Not if they want a stock holders revolt they won’t.

So where does that leave my colleagues in the UK motor trade. The dealers? I expect that a high percentage will move to welcome the likes of BYD and Geely to UK shores and add Chinese franchises to their existing showrooms or replace existing brands completely. If you can’t beat them join them. Do we have any alternative?

Alfa Romeo GTA Corse

The classic Alfa Romeo GTA Corse ages into the Totem GT-electric.

The 1962 Alfa GTA Corse was a classic the moment it was conceived. To be fair, even the picture doesn’t do it justice. In real life the car is tiny. Small but perfectly proportioned.

A modern twist on the fabulous 1962 Alfa Romeo GTA Corse. Now Totem have the all electric version

And today you can get a modern rendering of that car. Watch the video below of the fantastic Totem GT-electric. Performance is staggering. But, so is the noise. Totem have manage to maintain 60’s style with a truly modern build quality and safety features.

Given that the modern version uses original body panels (sourced by Totem) but combines them with the very latest in electric battery and drive train technology you can see why are lucky few are queuing up to be owners in the 21^st Century.

The video is worth watching, so are the links on the companies website (below) they even include a ICE engine sound that is linked to the output of the car. It sounds like a highly strung Italian racing engine is pulling you along.

Like marketing in general. Totem have focused on something that works, something that attracts the buyers and decided to ‘do it again’.

There is no age limit on a good design, be that a motor car, a piece of artwork or an advertising campaign.

If it worked once. It will work again.

In the Motor Trade we routinely run ‘Man from the Bank’, ‘Man from the Factory’, ‘VIP’ style events. Why? because they work.

Cymark is in the fortunate position in being able to provide a telesales and enquiry follow up service that works. A process that has been working since 1995.

Unfortunately not fortunate enough to own either a GTA Corse or a new GT-electric.

All our Motor Trade programmes are here – have a look at <lost sale>, <event appointments> and <email marketing>

Fantastic Totem GT-Electric Images and video c/o www.totemautomobili.com/gt-electric/

CYMARK