Best foot forward

If there is anything that creates and breeds irate customers, it’s a stagnant and unimaginative sales force. A passive sales force is in fact one of the telltale signs of a sub-par institution. Truthfully, in this day and age, with so many institutions offering the same products and services, going the extra mile and putting one’s best foot forward is the only way to encounter success. Moreso in the auto industry, where the basics that come with cars and their peripheral services vary little from one dealership to another. The challenge is for each car dealership to find ways to woo customers into their fold, given the fact that apart from location, little separates them from each other.

In progressive countries like Japan and the United States, where the auto industry is healthiest, car dealerships rarely have problems motivating their personnel to go the extra mile. This is so because everyone is dead-set on making that sale — and giving the customer his money’s worth. Quite simply, there’s passion involved. Creative sales pitches, therefore, are a dime a dozen. And the customer is naturally the absolute winner. Here in the Philippines, unfortunately, we tend to wallow in mediocrity. It’s almost impossible to find the atypical gem of a deal — even in the most professional of car dealerships. Almost.

Every so often, strokes of genius present themselves to us. Take the case of Autohub. In the small world of the Philippine auto industry, Autohub has been discussed many times over. This is so because apart from the war-chest-heavy national manufacturers, this conglomerate of independent car dealerships has been the most aggressive corporate animal we’ve seen in years. Composed of Klassik BMW in Araneta Avenue, Ford Global City in Taguig, Ford Manila along Otis, Ford Cagayan de Oro, Nissan Gallery Ortigas along Libis, Nissan Gallery Quezon Avenue, Nissan Gallery Cagayan de Oro, the newly opened dealerships Kia Binondo and Hyundai Global City, and Autozone in Pasong Tamo, Autohub presents itself as a collection of dealerships that has come together to become a single, compelling force to reckon with.

And, true to form, in what seems to be an effort to signal its arrival as a serious player in the auto industry, Autohub has put together an aggressive marketing effort that puts the advantage squarely on the shoulders of its would-be customers. In their "Beat Our Insurance Challenge", Autohub customers promise to "beat" any qualified insurance policy premium by P1,000. Basically, you can go to any of Autohub’s dealerships and you have the option to get your car insurance for at least P1,000 less than if you were to have it insured elsewhere — provided that your car is 12 years old or younger. Talk about building customer loyalty from the onset.

The best thing about this entire effort is the fact that, given the desire to grow the business, you can actually see the conglomerate’s enterprising nature come out in the open. In other words, as consumers ourselves, it’s the kind of effort we’d like to see more of. Like we said, it’s great to see passion (and not just greed) involved in making us part ways with our hard-earned money. The initial savings the customer gets (which results in less initial gain for the dealership) might well translate into long term gains in terms of returning business for Autohub. But that is beyond the point. The effort to go the extra mile and take some of the load off the consumers’ backs is reason enough for many to want to keep coming back. It’s no guarantee. But it’s a great gesture from Autohub to think about and subsequently address our needs. Who knows? Perhaps by putting their best foot forward, Autohub can trigger a car insurance price war? Wouldn’t that rock many a car buyers’ world? Hmph! Now they’ve made me sound like the greedy pig…