On March 7 at the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto in Yorkville, Ont., Wye Management conducted a special training seminar for Lexus dealer management staff from Russia. The seminar, conducted by Chris Schulthies, President of Wye Management, focused on North American sales training practices and customer expectations as well as Q&A sessions where the attendees were encouraged to participate in discussions.
Canadian auto dealer was invited to take part in the seminar which proved to be a fascinating insight into auto retailing practices, both in North America and Russia.
The event began with an overview of the Canadian and U.S. markets before diving into key topics such as compensation for retail staff, recruitment practices, digital marketing and social media, the role of the sales manager; financing and leasing as well as the changing needs of the luxury auto customer.
“There might be areas where Russia is ahead of us when it comes to the Lexus brand and others where we might be in the lead,” said Chris Schulthies. “I would like to think of this day as an exchange and I encourage you to ask questions.”
The attendees, who came from dealerships in different parts of Russia, including Moscow and Siberia did just that, talking about practices at home and how they compare with those in North America.
Many of the topics and concerns among dealers proved to be similar in both parts of the world, including effective ways of targeting customers, hiring practices, staff turnover and management strategies to help optimize dealership personnel performance.
Russia is expected to become one of the world’s leading markets for luxury automobiles, with growth set to explode over the course of the next decade. Schulthies eluded to the fact that currently, Moscow boasts the highest number of billionaires per capita in the world.
Although the attendees said that most buyers currently pay for luxury vehicles in cash, as the market matures, financing and especially leasing is expected to grow significantly.
The topic of leasing generated a good deal of discussion among the participants and Schulthies remarked that today, lease penetration is around 92 per cent in North America with few luxury vehicle owners choosing to finance. “We are a payment driven market,” he said, “which is why leasing is desirable.”
Schulthies said the questions being asked by the attendees from Russia related to leasing reflected “many of the concerns we had 25 years ago in North America. I hope you push more towards leasing in Russia,” he said “because it trains the customer to not focus on price and it keeps them coming back.”
Watch for more coverage of this unique event in the April 2014 issue of Canadian auto dealer.
For more information on Wye Management visit: wyemanagement.com
