Dealer PrinciplesA monthly update on selling more cars and parts more profitably

5 December 2013

Rounding off the Year at CitNOW

In this issue:

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for Dealer Principals

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That’s why we’ve been busy developing CitNOW; to make sure it helps you achieve your very best results:

3 in 4 buyers will use online video to help them choose their next car.

87% of buyers use the internet to research their next car purchase.

Digital and mobile accounts for 11 times more of UK media consumption than traditional print media.

93% of shoppers mention online searches and services to the salesman at the dealership.

50% first learn about a dealer online.

Sales, workshop, bodyshop and web

There are now 4 different CitNOW apps that you can use in your dealership. We’ve counted 24 different ways in which we’ve

seen CitNOW being used in sales. Here’s a link to the top 10:

www.citnow.com/top10uses

Workshop is now our fastest seller, with Nissan and BMW

dealerships leading the way. We’re integrated with 4 eVHC

suppliers, with more scheduled for Q1, 2014. With red work

conversion increasing by 20% on average, it’s easy to see why.

Rounding of the Year with CitNOW

Tips and Tricks: An Instant CSI Boost

Employee Spotlight: Martin Lone

Secrets of Success

Video of the Month

Please Welcome to CitNOW...

Your coffee cartoon © Mark Anderson

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It has been a good year for the car market in Britain. Return on sales has increased, absorption rates are up, and the average dealer has performed better than 2012, making close to £180,000 profit over the last nine months.

Employee Spotlight

Martin Lone: Regional Account Director

Tips and Tricks:

How Tos: an instant CSI boost

How many times have your team been asked how the sat nav works? Or how to change a spare tyre? Sometimes it’s easy to forget that what your team could do with their eyes closed isn’t as obvious to your customers.

In Sales or Workshop, having a library of CitNOW How-To videos can be an invaluable resource for your clients – and a sure fire way to improve your CSI figures.

Make one video for every problem, question and query that your team commonly get and the next time a customer needs a helping hand pairing their mobile to their car you’ll be-able to direct them to a walk-through video that they can watch at their convenience, again and again.

Go to www.citnow.com/vvourhint02 to watch our short cartoon.

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Martin Lone is a man steeped in automotive lore. Having held almost every position in the dealership over his career, the limits of his industrial knowledge have not been yet accurately measured (they are still trying to find a ruler big enough).

The sometimes called ‘King of the North’ leads a semi-nomadic existence, travelling all over from Inverness to Trowbridge, to help dealers in need of CitNOW assistance. Having travelled more than 1.5 times around the world this year, Martin will not let road accidents, foul weather or a jam-packed diary get in the way of helping CitNOW clients.

To find out more about Martin, and the man behind the Sat-Nav go to: www.citnow.com/vvourteam02

To see Martin sing in our Christmas special: The 12 Days of CitNOW, go to: www.citnow.com/vvour12days

Bodyshop is new, and we’ve had impressive results on retail upsell. The app is set-up to take photos as well as a video.

Web is our latest development. Aside from taking photos as well as a video, you can add different sound tracks, have a specific dealer at the beginning and end of each video, and benefit from better ranking in Google, driving traffic to your web site. Ask your Account Manager for more information.

CitNOW 2013 milestones:

• Passed the 100 mark for countries viewing CitNOW videos.

• There are over 250,000 CitNOW videos made and stored in the dealer archives.

• CitNOW is being used in Belgium, France, Ireland, Spain, Netherlands, South Africa, China, New Zealand, Russia, Namibia, Botswana and the USA. There are now CitNOW

franchises driving automotive video all over the world.

New faces

• Amelia Rees (Sales support executive) on the phone-in front line helping dealers get back to full fighting fitness.

• Joshua Pullan (Marketing Executive) Researching, writing, developing and getting used to referring to himself in the 3rd person in newsletters.

• Matt Blake (Regional Sales Manager) adds to the CitNOW road warrior squad bringing the light of CitNOW to more dealerships

• Rab Ritchie (Web Developer) an addition to our Stirling Office exploring the mysterious world of internet code and computing.

• Henry Kay (Account Manager) joins us this December to work hand in hand with our customers to make sure they are getting the most out of CitNOW.

Who’s leaving?

Steve Gleadall, a long serving member of the team, who many of you will know, has left us! He’s ‘gotten’ engaged, and shipped out to our USA office all in the space of a week - go Steve!

12 Days of Christmas - Enjoy: www.citnow.com/vvour12days

Our Oscar nominee of the month:

Lee Rothwell from Wessex Garages Bristol

Take a look for yourself at: www.citnow.com/vvtheoscar3

Why it works:

• Total Transparency: Everything is clearly shown and explained. You see the Tire Depth Gauge going in and you see the results. No chance for suspicion from the customer

• Everything is clear: Lee spells out what he is going to do and sticks to it. Makes for a smooth take that is informative, helpful and still adds the human touch.

• Includes the customer: Lee’s customer has raised several questions which Lee takes the time to individually address and explain, showing the rattling and corroded parts of the car. Guaranteed to help get that work converted.

Great video Lee, we hope you enjoy your champagne!

Dealer Principles | 5 December 2013 3

When Neil Harris, Brand Manager of

MINI High Wycombe, first got CitNOW,

he wasn’t that impressed. However, with

competition encroaching on their business,

CSI low and PPU fragile, he decided that

something had to change.

He got his team together, showed them

the stats (they weren’t pretty), and asked

them one simple question:

“I don’t want to be average or bottom of the table: do you?”

It began with one achievable target: 4

CitNOWs per week per exec. Neil led from

the front, making his own videos. From

there, it snowballed. The team began

making CitNOW videos for every step

of the sales process from used cars to

brochure requests. Soon they were seeing

real, significant impact.

“One guy drove all the way from Devon, past dozens of dealers, because someone made a cracking video for him”.

Operating in a highly competitive market,

Harris and his team focused on how

they could be different and stand out

from the crowd. At the ‘Not Normal’ MINI

event in September, instead of using

traditional prospecting tactics, they made

videos inviting customers to a VIP event.

Definitely not normal.

So what was the effect on Harris’ PPU and CSI? To hear the figures and learn more about how CitNOW exploded at MINI High Wycombe go to

www.video.citnow.com/minisuccess

On the ground

When a DP/Brand Manager buys in to

CitNOW, the effect on a dealership can be

impressive. Ashley Egan, made 84 videos

in September alone – which makes her

the busiest sales exec in CitNOW UK. As

she says,

“Once you get into the habit, it doesn’t take long”.

She gave us one simple way where a

CitNOW video can make all the difference:

“One of the complaints we get is that parking around here is terrible. So I make a 30 second video of the car park and explain that if the customer can’t find a space, they can pull up somewhere, give us the keys, and we’ll park it for them”.

Neil Harris, MINI, High WycombeSecrets of Success:

CitNOW is part of Zype TV Limited

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Dealer PrinciplesA monthly update on selling more cars and parts more profitably

5 December 2013

for Dealer Principals

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Please welcome to CitNOW