After buying a house, the car is the second biggest purchase of your average Filipino family, so it only seems right that one must choose wisely. After the test drives and showroom visits are done and you have settled on which car to get, it would be wise for one to also consider ‘buying the seller.’
Given the number of scams in our world today, trusting or having a good feeling about the seller is just as important as the product itself. So when it came time to purchase the Geely for the missus, we chose to buy it from Geely Bacolor all the way in Pampanga—a dealership I can trust to give me the best buying experience and whose principals I know personally and have a relationship with.
For this purchase I was personally assisted by Tita Amor, a veteran in the dealership and its branch group head, so from the very beginning I knew I was in good hands. Personal relationship building (PRB) can be a key factor to success in the field of vehicle sales, something I have learned early on in my career as an automotive professional, and something I always teach to the up-and-coming generation of sales people.
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Premium automobile dealers, get this: PRB has been a Lexus mantra since it started operations in the Philippines back in 2009. BMW goes so far as to subsidize golf lessons for its sales consultants so they can engage with their clients in the relaxed atmosphere of a golf club. And no less than Porsche principal Robert Coyiuto himself joins other sports car owners for Sunday morning breakfast drives.
Unfortunately, most mass market brands still do not see the value of this. A lot of dealerships tell me about budget limitations for these types of activities. And the sales people find it very time consuming, and would rather be looking for new clients and entertaining walk-in customers rather than spending time with someone who had already bought a car.
My view on this, though, is very different: While there is some monetary investment required for meals or small tokens, PRB does not need to be expensive, but it does take a lot of time and effort. While playing golf and Sunday breakfast may be on the upper end of the PRB spectrum, a phone call to greet them on their special day(s), personally dropping off a birthday cake, joining them to celebrate a special occasion, and simply being with them in good and bad times will go a long way and will truly be appreciated.
If sales people simply spend time with customers who have already bought, how will they look for new customers to hit their targets? This is the point of view I always share: Say a marketing professional from a legacy brand dealership delivers an average of 10 cars a month or 120 cars a year, one just needs to maintain this steady volume for five years to have a total database of 600 customers. And if these customers are well cared for, the repeat sales and referrals of these 600 should make him or her set for life!
Now taking care of 600 clients may seem like a daunting task, but if you really break it down, that’s just engaging with two clients per day. If you ask me, I would rather spend my time with someone who has already bought a car and can introduce me to their family and friends who will someday buy a new car, and if I play my cards right, that day will come sooner than later.
Strong relationships are built both ways—car dealerships will always treat customers well on the onset, but if you want to take this further, everyone has to do his or her part. Being an unreasonably demanding customer and feeling entitled just because you bought a car does not win any favors. Trying to pit one dealer against another to get a better deal is something that is frowned upon, while hostility towards the team members and foul language can probably get you thrown out.
Car dealerships make a lot less money than you think on your purchase, so unless the difference in the offer is significant, I would remain loyal to my dealer. I can assure you that P20,000 difference in the discount will come back when your dealer fights for you in that marginal warranty claim.
Despite being quite a distance away from my house, I have been with the same Toyota dealer for over a decade now; over the years I have bought four cars for myself and referred countless clients to Genelyn, the marketing professional and now group sales manager who I got my car from and still takes care of me today. I have met the dealer principal, his entire family and most of the frontline team so this relationship has now progressed into something even stronger—trust.
It is this trust that allows me to just hand over my keys to my adviser when I require a service with no checklists and no job order. I just ask her to message me when the car is ready for pick up and to send me the bill when done. Have there been issues that have come up? Absolutely, but because we have always been honest with each other, they were easily resolved—customer loyalty really does have its benefits.
As for buying the Geely, by no stretch of the imagination can you say the transaction went smoothly. We waited about five weeks for the BEV model, and just as when a delivery schedule was set and payments were progressively being made, we were suddenly informed that Geely Bacolor was not allocated a unit in our preferred color and the next batch would come in two more weeks.
To further complicate matters, I saw several Facebook posts from sales people of various Geely dealerships in Metro Manila offering immediate delivery for the EX5 BEV in my color choice with an even better discount package. But Tita Amor has always been upfront with me, telling both the good and bad news, so despite the color mismatch, the lack of chargers, and the two-hour drive up north, we stuck it out with Geely Pampanga, and we even chose a different color that was readily available. Why? Because a proper relationship needs energy from both sides; by sticking with them when things did not go their way, I know they will have my back when things do not go my way.
