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Tooling Around
Everyone knows Craftsman hand tools are the best.
Right? Everyone realizes that a lifetime warranty and the
ability to walk into retail outlets nationwide and return those
tools, to instantly receive a replacement, as backing of that
warranty, creates an inherent value that makes the product the best
in it's field. This warranty propelled Sears and Roebuck to
the top of the quality hand tool marketplace and held them that
position virtually ad infinitum.
So.....
With that
type of marketing in mind, car manufacturers learned an important
marketing lesson. A perception of quality can be created by
warranty. The better the warranty and accompanying service,
the higher the perception of quality the end user is likely to
receive.
The rub.....
Car dealers and car
manufacturer’s interests do not always parallel one
another.
The producer of the product always wants the product
to receive top billing. Their product is, naturally, the star
of the show and should be given the treatment of a star.
Coddling and pampering of the star are mandatory and a prerequisite
for success. At least as far as the producer sees
it.
Car dealers, on the other hand, get rewarded for turnover
of inventory. That's it. If loyalty helps this to occur,
then it is a good thing. If it isn't necessary for turnover,
that's fine also. In the end, it is an issue of turnover for
turnovers sake or profits don't exist.
Reconciling these
disparate needs has needed to be a focus of the auto industry for
over twenty years now, with very few real successes. The
companies doing it best appear to also be the ones leading the sales
sheets. This isn't an accident as I see it. For all the
talk of bankruptcies, employee and retiree benefits and poor quality
product, the real problems facing American automakers today are more
involved with proper marketing of desirable product than any of the
other aforementioned causes.
Imagine.....
GM and Ford
working with their dealers to create showrooms people would want to
visit. Swank decors in the dealerships with properly trained
sales folk who understand the product and know how to develop a
loyal clientele. Prep departments in dealerships with
incentives to make sure the car is right before it is ever released
to a new purchaser or showroom floor. Service departments that
go the extra mile for customers, rather than expecting customers to
go the extra mile for them.
In the end, if all the members of
an automotive company don't get on the bandwagon of being the best
in their industry, in all facets of the industry, then the cutthroat
nature of the competition today virtual assures that company will
fail.
Let's hope the execs in the American automobile
industry figure this out before it is too late.
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