Buickman: Call to Action

[2002 Caddy]

Originally Posted by D C

Thanks for that. I needed a laugh.

You may know how to sell a car, but I guarantee that does not extrapolate into knowing anything about running an auto company.

And now I'm laughing too... Might I point out to you that the CORE of our business is selling cars. It is what GM is all about.. It is like the FOUNDATION of your house. If that is missing everything else collapses. PERIOD.

I'm curious, what exactly do you think that GM does?

[sigma]

Originally Posted by Buickman

if you'd read more, you'd have seen that I was against Rendezvous for being foreign shaped and named, yet marketed as "Spirit of American Style". once in the fold, I supported keeping it because the tooling was paid for, it was profitable, and it made a great switch car for those unable to afford Enclave.

I wish you would pay attention dude, or is it dudette?

Thanks for proving my point about not knowing much of anything about how to run or market a "luxury" brand.

[Buickman]

Originally Posted by D C

Thanks for that. I needed a laugh.

You may know how to sell a car, but I guarantee that does not extrapolate into knowing anything about running an auto company.

you're very welcome.

no claim to knowing how to run anything except car sales.

hmmm.....

[kingdoms]

I have been to Europe several times in the past 10 years. Particularly Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy......they market through very small dealers. Particularly in Germany and Austria, they may keep 1 - 2 new cars on hand inside the dealership building, have 1 -2 service bays and they order all cars direct ship from the factory. No huge floor plans tied up in inventory on the lot. Saves a great deal of expense to the dealer because of this. All cars ordered from the factory usually takes 6 - 8 weeks generally when general sales are steady. Not with a recession like they have now. Dealers must be in local areas in order to service the vehicles for warranty work, etc.. The majority of America is not going to drive 'x' number of miles to get a car serviced. They will begin buying mostly those cars that are handled within an acceptable mileage from their home. Reason hard to see GM hitting the 'rural' dealers so hard in this reduction. Chrysler seems to have taken a different tack. My guess is GM will lose a urge amount of business. Service is a large factor in purchasing and GM is killing that here in the midwest USA.

[Exploder]

You should try reading this thread with Buickman on your ignore list. It's hilarious.

[XP300]

Originally Posted by 2002 Caddy

And now I'm laughing too... Might I point out to you that the CORE of our business is selling cars. It is what GM is all about.. It is like the FOUNDATION of your house. If that is missing everything else collapses. PERIOD.

I'm curious, what exactly do you think that GM does?

The core of GM's business is designing and manufacturing cars and trucks!

An extension of the business is having dealers who will sell GM's cars.

Without the design and manufacturing FOUNDATION, GM dealers would have no cars to sell.

While in the past, one phase of the business could not go on without the other, in todays environment, GM could market and sell their cars and trucks through the internet. They could take the best dealers and make them "GM SERVICE CENTERS". Buy your car online and pick it up at your local Service Center.

Buickman is a salesman. That's where he belongs. When he begins designing and manufacturing cars, then selling them, I will listen to him.

[#1GMCTRUCK]

Have any of you ever heard the phrase "United We Stand, Divided We Fall" ? Buickman is
a salesman and he talks to customers every day. We also need people who design and
build a good, reliable product. We need the value of the product to outweigh the payment we are asking a client to spend. That does not happen online. We also need
to be profitable. That means making good cars at all price points, including the $200.00
dollar payment mark. We currently have Leases out there for $100.00 month on some Rendevous's. If you think that the online service center can justify a $200.00-$400.00
payment bumb, I wish you well.

[2002 Caddy]

Originally Posted by XP300

The core of GM's business is designing and manufacturing cars and trucks!

An extension of the business is having dealers who will sell GM's cars.

Without the design and manufacturing FOUNDATION, GM dealers would have no cars to sell.

You know what is really sad...

This endless "chicken and egg" debate has been asked and ANSWERED inside GM... They know which came first "sales or product" (chicken or the egg).

Want to know which it is? Take a look at Saturn. Here was the division at GM who had as its MISSION to sell cars in a customer friendly way. That was their "special niche". If you read RTG you will see that the Saturn sales model is about 50% of what RTG is.

Now take a look at the Saturn sales per dealer numbers... even starved of product, or schlepping re-badge European cars... with NO full sized truck and almost ZERO fleet sales to support things... These dealers kicked EVERYONE'S butt.

The question that no-one can answer... is...
If it worked at Saturn... If Saturn dealers could sell cars in such huge numbers per dealer why not try these techniques at Chevy? Buick? Pontiac? Cadillac...

Why is it OK to treat customers like dirt at the other Divisions and like gold at just one?

Again, if you look at the numbers if you transplanted the average "sales per dealer" from Saturn to our Chevy Dealers we wouldn't be broke right now.

Need more proof?
The other unanswered question...
Since GM cars are getting better and better every year, how come our market share keeps getting smaller and smaller every year?
If Product is the foundation and the product has never been better, how come sales have never been worse?

Take the best cut of Filet Mignon and grill it to juicy rare perfection and you have a beautiful thing... Take that same perfect steak and grill it till it is dry and hard and even the dog won't eat it.

[#1GMCTRUCK]

The facts are Saturn sold in Michigan, Nationwide it did not do well. When Gmac Quit
doing leases they quit selling even here. I don't know where you shop for Gm Vehicles
but our salespeople treat our customers like gold and we do not sell Saturn. Every
franchise has a couple of bad people who try to hit and run, That does not make us all
like that. I will say that Mr. Dollinger treats his clients TOP-Notch.

[2002 Caddy]

Originally Posted by #1GMCTRUCK

The facts are Saturn sold in Michigan, Nationwide it did not do well. When Gmac Quit
doing leases they quit selling even here. I don't know where you shop for Gm Vehicles
but our salespeople treat our customers like gold and we do not sell Saturn. Every
franchise has a couple of bad people who try to hit and run, That does not make us all
like that. I will say that Mr. Dollinger treats his clients TOP-Notch.

The numbers don't lie... Across North America month after month, year after year, as a division, Saturn set one sales record after another for "Units sold per dealer"... Whatever they did there WORKED and should have been implemented Corporate wide.

Sure there are pockets of "amazing" dealers... immagine GM's overall health if they were ALL amazing.

My personal experience with Oldsmobile and Cadillac Dealers was that something changed around 1995 GONE are the days when warranty problems were fixed without asking. GONE are the days when a warranty problem would be fixed with the car a month or 2 past the warranty date. Gone are the days when just about every odd ball part for your 5 year old car were in stock.

I could go on and on, you probably know better then I what is going on... I'm just a customer, you obviously work at a dealer... But from a customer POV some thing dramatic happened in the mid 90's with the level of service at most dealers. Dramatic, not in a good way.

[#1GMCTRUCK]

I do not know where you are from and from what perspective you think you are treated
differently. From a inside point of view, the things that I see are that suppliers and Gm
employees have a set price on the vehicle, no one can hold rebates or discounts that a
client is entitled to. That is way more customer friendly. The other things that have changed are the warranties on GM Vehicles. In 2006, Buicks warranty went to 4years/
50000 miles (just like Cadillac) in 2007, The powertrain warranty went to 5year/ 100000
mile (including Roadside). The cars are built with long life features and designed not to need lots of repairs. It is not cost effective to keep parts in stock, that are ready available on a 24 to 48 hour turnaround just in case they are need. Most of us offer our demo's if the customer needs a car to drive or rental cars if the car is under warranty.
Our dealership use the goodwill repairs almost every day, But GM has to approve. From
our point of view is that we are here and loyal to our customers and yet we have some
Gm employees not driving GM vehicles because they can not lease at some ridiculous
payment(same at Saturn). I think the brand deserves loyalty from all sides. We sell fewer
cars, in turn they build fewer cars, in turn, less service, less parts and eventually no
money and a bad economy. I hate the turn of events that have left us here, but it was
a group effort, not just dealers.

[megeebee]

Originally Posted by 2002 Caddy

The numbers don't lie... Across North America month after month, year after year, as a division, Saturn set one sales record after another for "Units sold per dealer"... Whatever they did there WORKED and should have been implemented Corporate wide.

It is being implemented "corporate wide". It is the accelerated closing of GM dealers around the nation.

The reason Saturn dealers have such a high sales-per-dealer is that there are far fewer Saturn dealers than most other GM brands.

.

[2002 Caddy]

Originally Posted by megeebee

It is being implemented "corporate wide". It is the accelerated closing of GM dealers around the nation.

The reason Saturn dealers have such a high sales-per-dealer is that there are far fewer Saturn dealers than most other GM brands.

.

cutting a shrinking pie into fewer slices does nothing to stop the pie from shrinking.

GM is (and has been) focused on the wrong problem for almost 15 years

[Buickman]

from Alfred P Sloan's "My Years With General Motors" 1964

Chapter 16 "Distribution and The Dealers"

"When I was chief executive officer of General Motors, I gave a large part of my attention to dealer relations, amounting at times, you might say, almost to a specialization. I did so because the experience of the 1920's, when the modern problems of automobile distribution took shape, taught me that a stable dealer organization is a necessary condition for the progress and stability of an enterprise in this industry...

"The individual franchised dealer, usually a substantial businessman in his local community, meets the customer, often as a neighbor, trades with him, and services the product sold. The personality, acquaintance, and standing of the dealer as a local merchant are basic to the type of franchise distribution which has become the custom in the automobile industry. Our entire sales approach is based upon this system of individually financed merchants, to whom we offer a potential profit opportunity based upon the General Motors franchise."

Sloan refers to the interface between the local businessman and the public. Closing stores will irreparably damage GM as the face of the company disappears and the tremendous backlash occurs from the negative publicity already building across America. GM's single greatest loss of market share came when the company bought out Ross Perot, and the public perceived GM to be an "out of touch ogre". Here we go again!


__________________________________________________ _________________

from Peter Drucker's "The Concept of the Corporation" 1946

Chapter 2 "The Corporation as Human Effort"

"A good and loyal dealer organization is as important for the success of an automobile company as a good product; and good dealers are hard to get. In it's attempts to eliminate the latent conflicts between manufacturer and dealer General Motors was certainly conscious of the broader, social implications of the situation. But above all the problem of fair and satisfactory dealer-relations is a problem of the efficient functioning, success, and survival of the company itself--as much as the problem of leadership-training for instance."

When GM closed Olds, it dealt a body blow to the corporation. The customers did not necessarily stay loyal to GM, many jumped to the competition, never to return. Also this had the effect of furthering mistrust between the company and it's other franchisees. After driving a million unit seller into the ground by the most incredibly stupid marketing, GM shut Olds down, losing well over a Billion directly and many more Billions indirectly.

Furthermore, the impending social implications are surely to be devastating nationwide as communities lose their pillars of support, tax revenue sources, and centers of activity. Surrounding businesses will suffer and close, unemployment will surge, and emptied commercial buildings will further distress real estate values.


__________________________________________________ _________________

from John DeLorean's "On a Clear Day You Can See General Motors" 1979

Chapter 9 "Getting the USA to See Chevrolet"

"So the single identifiable reason GM dominates in the American automobile industry is its giant size as best expressed in the breadth and strength of its dealer body. Because of this, General Motors has fared much better than the competition in long industry sales downturns. Proportionally fewer GM dealers folded during the auto industry slump which began with the Arab oil embargo in late 1973, even though the markets most severely hit were for big cars which had been the backbone of GM's profit structure. The automaker which never showed a loss in the Great Depression, while others were losing their shirts, was the only domestic maker to turn a profit in the troubled first quarter of 1975. The profit, in '75, was modest, to be sure (only $50 million or about 20 cents a share), but it was a profit nonetheless. The financial strength of GM's dealers enables them to absorb large inventories of new cars - taking the inventory cost burden off the corporation - and still ride through periods of red ink operations."

DeLorean, although portrayed as a maverick, was in essence a visionary. He knew the business and had enormous success at Pontiac and then Chevrolet. Today we have a management unable to develop a strategy for Pontiac. Instead of getting rid of Pontiac, we need to get rid of the failed management. DeLorean recognized the value in the large dealer body. Culling dealers with such a vengeance and vigor as we see happening is retail suicide.