Motor Trade FSA Compliance by motortradesolutions.net

Are you confident about your FSA processes, documentation and systems?

motortradesolutions.net can assist your automotive business with many levels of assistance when it comes to FSA Compliance in the motor industry.

Our approach is not one-size-fits-all, we fit around your business and the needs of your team. This can range from:

• An FSA Healthcheck - to see where your business is today and provide peace of mind.
• FSA Consultancy - where we help you to operate by implementing systems and processes.
• Finance and Insurance Training - once again this is tailored to the needs of your business. We can train your Business Managers, Sales Managers or Car Sales Executives through classroom training or one-to-one coaching which leads to increased performance and revenue.
  

Our training is held on-site to minimise the impact on your motor business in terms of staff coverage, travel expenses etc.

Working closely with our clients we have seen their businesses run leaner and leaner in the past 12-18 months. This has lead to some primary functions not getting the attention they need, so this has lead to the creation of our outsourced 'pay as you go' services to help you and reduce the need for increasing headcount or overheads.

Our team of professionals all come from a motor trade background and have a proven track record. Their motor industry background also means that they take a pragmatic approach to FSA Compliance and avoid wherever possible in bogging you down in unnecessary processes.

If you are interested in knowing more then please call us for an preliminary chat to see if we can help you on 0845 658 6880 or use our contact us page to request further information.

To learn more about outsourced services from motortradesolutions.net please follow this link>>>

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Don’t bury your head in the sand - marketing via social media is here.

Like it or not, marketing via social media is here. Whilst you might not engage in it yourself, your customers are.

Social media is not just about posting adverts or stock inventory. A growing number of consumers want to engage with the people they do business with. This is leading forward thinking dealerships and motor dealer groups to rethink their website design and strategy, as it is not just an interactive brochure anymore.

Automotive dealer websites up until now have been about catching the consumer who is about to change their car. So previously the most important involvement by the management was to ensure the continuous update of new/used stock inventory, photographs and refreshing the quarterly new car campaigns.

Unfortunately this means that your customer has no need to return to your website for 2/3 years because it serves no other purpose to them.

This is where the biggest shift in thinking needs to happen. You need to make your customers “fans” of your business and give them the opportunity to comment and suggest improvements. They also need to hear other news than offers, sales, finance deals etc

Running your web presence in a way that has your customers (and potential customers) returning time and again requires a lot of effort and social media marketing requires time. If you think posting short messages on Twitter and sharing daily photographs are easy to do, think again. If you have a specific goal and you implement a social media plan, using social media could be easier but it would still require a lot of time.

You could choose not to focus on social media marketing, but that means you also will not get the maximum impact from using the free social networks. You need to make a decision about how you want to take advantage of this shift in internet marketing and decide how you are going to implement it in your business. For many companies, it is not always possible to spend time on creating content and building strong networks in social media. As I have said before motor dealerships run leaner than ever and more often or not the responsibility for online communication to customers is handed to the wrong people.

I cannot stress this point enough – and if you relate it to your own buying experiences you’ll know this to be true – so here goes:

Would you agree that today your website is the main way that you are communicating to your potential customers?

Would you also agree that the decision whether to make first contact often rides on your communication through this channel?

Of course we all know the answers to the above, but our research has shown that although business owners and senior dealer management know how important their communication is with customers, they often give the job to the wrong people – and worst of all it is not vetted before being published. We know this because when they are made to look at it for themselves, they are shocked and embarrassed at what they see.

Now that social media has come into the equation, the possibilities for devaluing your business or brand become even more prevalent if not handled properly. It is often given to the lowest paid staff member. We have seen dealerships using the sales trainee and even students on work experience placements to updating motor dealer websites.

Motor dealers call in experts for many things to help with their business, but are reluctant to make a relatively small investment in using experts for communication for their online presence. Get this right and customer retention levels grow, which as we know is cheaper than chasing conquest business.

For companies that do not have the time to make social marketing work, there are other options.

Motor dealers can really gain full advantage of using social media by outsourcing the tasks to specialists like motortradesolutions.net (MTS.net). Outsourced Marketing is actually very effective and affordable for companies. When motor dealers outsource, they are getting the expertise on a pay-as-you-go basis without spending money beyond the contract price for the project. With MTS.net you can set a budget or use our menu pricing system for your social media marketing.

Outsourcing your marketing means there is no need to invest in salary packages, bonuses, pensions, national insurance or company cars. Equally you do not have to provide valuable office space, computers or equipment. Outsourcing can work for all types of motor dealers - big or small.

The MTS.net team can work on creating contents for your website and your other social media accounts. Our experts are from the motor trade and can also work on getting your account more followers by following the right people and connect with them for your business.

If you would like to know more please call us on 0845 658 6880 for an initial discussion to see how we can best help you.

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Don't let your poorly managed database stop you email marketing.

Don't let your database get you down, help is at hand and it costs a lot less than you think...

We take several enquiries here at motortradesolutions.net from businesses that want to embark on email marketing or some other form of targeted prospecting activity.

They've heard about the succes it can bring if done properly and they like the fact that it is less expensive than direct mail campaigns.

Though the problem they face after they make the enquiry is usually one of these two scenarios:

1. They don’t have email addresses for their existing client base (or enough to make it worthwhile).
2. They do not have confidence in the accuracy of information in their database – and unfortunately they are usually right.

The good news is that at motortradesolutions.net we have been able to help our clients to not only to cleanse their database, but also introduce systems that collect relevant email data for future marketing activities too.

So this is a message to all those out there who feel that they have a hopeless cause because they have one or both of the problems we have listed above. And so never enquire or enjoy the benefits that using something like email marketing can bring.

And lastly let me dispel another myth for you. We are often told (with great confidence) that email is only used by young people, because they are the only ones who use computers on a regular basis. Interestingly we are usually told this by the ones with the poorest database management, and suddenly they are experts on their customer profile?

53% of iphone users are over 35
The fastest growth of Facebook users are 45 and over
20% of Twitter users are 55+

Pre-judge your client base at your peril. The internet is not the domain of geeky kids. You’ll be amazed at how many people of all ages judge your business by your online activity. Your potential dream client may be passing you by because your website gives the wrong impression of your business. And because web traffic is anonymous you’ll never know.

Don’t let your shabby database stop you. Help is at hand. Give us a call; we have cost-effective methods that can quickly and inexpensively straighten your database out and gain those all important email addresses. Best of all it usually generates some sales leads in the process so any investment you do make is often covered by the sales you gain.

We all know that it’s cheaper to keep the customers we’ve got than go out and win new business. No matter how messy your database is there’s business to be done in there with people who have dealt with you before so let motortradesolutions.net hep you uncover it.

You can use this form or call us on 0845 658 6880 to find out more and let motortradesolutions.net take the problem away.

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Worried about Hand Arm Vibration or Whole Body Vibration?

Are you worried about Hand Arm Vibration or Whole Body Vibration??

If so the HSE have recently updated there website with some great advice and tips on managing the risk to your employees who use hand powered tools or drive vehicles for long durations. The advice giving is straight forward and practical and further advice can be obtained from motortradesolutions.net on systems to ensure you manage the risks to staff if vibration is a key hazard you need to manage in your workshop.

motortradesolutions.net can provide help and advice on health and safety issues that are related to the motor trade. Our team of specialists are there to help you, not to be obstructive to your business. If you are unsure or would like to discuss a healthcheck the please call 0845 658 6880 or email us.

Being Struck by something is a major issue in the Motor Trade.

Being Struck by something is a major issue in the Motor Trade - it accounts for around 20% of injuries in the Motor Vehicle Industry.

Typical types of incidents are- struck by vehicles falling off inspection lifts, materials falling from elevated storage areas or the raised forks on fork lift trucks, by tools and materials ejected from plant and equipment and by movement of vehicles under repair.

To this end the HSE have produced some excellent guidance on the subject, some of which is downloadable and other information can be purchased from them or seek further advice from the specialist team at motortradesolutions.net which is appropriate to your own style of business.

For now here are some useful links for further information:

• Current Issues - Injuries arising from the movement of vehicles under repair.
• Case Studies - View other companies experiences.
• Workplace Transport Safety - An employers’ guide.

motortradesolutions.net can provide help and advice on health and safety issues that are related to the motor trade. Our team of specialists are there to help you, not to be obstructive to your business. If you are unsure or would like to discuss a healthcheck the please call 0845 658 6880 or email us.

Why use email marketing?

Why use email marketing?

• The ability to distribute information to a wide range of specific, potential customers at a relatively low cost.
• Compared to other media investments such as direct mail or printed material, e-mail is much less expensive.
• An exact Return on Investment (ROI) can be tracked ("track to basket") and has proven to be high when done properly.
• The delivery time for an e-mail message is short (in seconds or minutes) as compared to a mailed advertisement (one or more days).
• An advertiser is able to "push" the message to its audience, as opposed to website-based advertising, which relies on a customer to visit that website. Although email marketing can be used to attract traffic to your website.
• E-mail messages are easy to track. As an advertiser you can track users via autoresponders, open stats, link stats, bounce stats, forwarding stats and click-throughs. Advertisers can generate repeat business affordably and automatically.
• Advertisers can reach substantial numbers of e-mail subscribers who have opted in and consented to receive e-mail communications on subjects of interest to them.
• Over half of Internet users check or send e-mail on a typical day.
• E-mail marketing is paper-free and is seen as a "green" initiative by your business.
• Tracking and response metrics enables tuning and optimisation of the E-mail marketing channel by a process of testing different variants and calculation of statistically significant results.
  

As experienced motor trade email marketers, Motor Trade Solutions bring an objective view to your email campaigns, ensuring that every communication works hard to towards meeting your objectives and maintaining the integrity of your Corporate Identity.

We can handle any aspect of your email campaign, from strategy and targeting, to creative development, campaign delivery and response handling. We can even source the right data for the job.

When you choose our fully managed email service we will become your virtual marketing team. We can deliver as much or as little of your email marketing strategy as you want us to, working with your marketing agency if necessary to ensure that your email communications are delivered efficiently, are read by your audience and drive response.

We take the pain out of producing excellent email marketing, whilst still giving you complete control and visibility of the process. All our clients have access to our easy to use online reporting and analytics tool, allowing you to monitor delivery and initial response. We also carry out detailed campaign analysis and provide recommendations for future testing and roll-out.

Our systems can import your complete client lists, targeted, purchased, or if you require, access to our B2B database of 1.8 million business emails.

So why use Motor Trade Solutions for your email marketing campaign?

• Established track record of success with motor dealers and dealer groups, see this article as an example.
• Hassle Free - We help our clients to harness the power of email to deliver feature rich, high quality marketing campaigns that engage customers. Our understanding of the motor industry means that we talk your language and can take your marketing idea forward expertly. MTS make email marketing simple, producing maximum returns with the minimum of hassle.
• View your campaign statistics – the Motor Trade Solutions email marketing machine will let you see your open stats, link stats, bounce stats, forwarding stats and even your unsubscribe stats. This information can be narrowed down on an individual email-by-email basis if you prefer.
• Measure your Return on Investment – Unlike direct mail by post or press advertising we can tell you if your target prospect has read the email. We can also tell if they clicked through to your website.
• Managed Mailing Lists – we will update your list if recipients choose to unsubscribe and ensure that they do not receive unwanted emails again.
• Find out what interest your customers – the Motor Trade Solutions email marketing machine allows you to see what part of your email interested your prospects most by tracking which subject header or image they clicked on.
• We are a responsible email marketing company meaning that any email data that we provide is collected legitimately meaning that the message is getting to those who want to receive it and does not damage your reputation.
• We can react fast. Press or Direct Mail can typically take one or two weeks to produce and be seen by your prospects. However if you have a message that you want to get out to your customers fast or need to quickly raise enquiry levels we can achieve a quick turnaround for design and the Motor Trade Solutions advanced mailing software will get your message out fast and into inboxes.
  

Motor Trade Solutions are able to help any size of business from independent retailers and traders to large dealer groups and Plc operations. For further information visit our email marketing webpage or to discuss your requirements about our email marketing services please contact us or just call our team for an initial discussion on 0845 658 6880 and start making an impact on your business.

A Daunting Task??

Marketing for the September Registrations.
A daunting task???


It's early July and Sales Managers up and down the country have just been informed of the manufacturer's new marketing campaign for the September market.

They know about the finance offers, registration bonuses, deposit contributions, free insurance scrappage deals. They see their quarter 3 target stretching ahead of them and their dealer principal is putting them under pressure to overachieve!

While they are contemplating all of this they've just looked at the holiday calendar and noticed that they do not have a full complement of sales staff between now and the end of August.

But for now you have got to take off your Sales Manager's hat and become the marketing whizz-kid to get the message out there to your customers.

My question to you is should something so important be left to chance?

I've attended several dealerships in the last several weeks where the topic of dealer marketing has come up.

Car Sales Managers are having to quickly learn how to get a lot accomplished on a very small budget. They need to determine what they can do themselves, and what they should outsource. One of the best lessons dealer management should learn early is to surround themselves with others that know more than they do, in areas that are not their core areas of expertise. They need to know when to ask for help.

This principle applies to many aspects of business management - finance/FSA compliance, sales training, health & safety and definitely marketing. A manager (or business) can not be an expert in everything. It is not desirable to be a jack of all trades, and a master of none.

The goal should not be to achieve mediocrity in many things. The goal should be to achieve excellence and superiority in a few inter-related areas, and leave the other competencies to the experts in those specific fields.

For example, you are an expert in managing your department or business. You know your financials, you know how to best look after your customers, the franchise has its own demands and your head office wants reports and forecasts completed on time. This is why you are in the position you are. You are in control.

In the middle of all this how easy is it to develop and innovate a strong marketing plan that's going to ensure that you are going to get the results you need and that all important return on investment.

In the last several months, I have heard many dealer managers say that they don't need any help with their marketing. I believe they are drawing this conclusion because of two reasons:

1. They have a very tight cash flow, and are trying to identify their needs versus wants. They are determining what they need to purchase or outsource, and what they can forgo. A very necessary and wise strategy.
2. They really don't understand what marketing is. They don't understand that money invested with a marketing expert can translate into profit down the road. Strategic marketing is an investment.
   

Marketing is a complex, multi-disciplinary business function. There are many moving parts in marketing, all that must be intelligently integrated to ultimately deliver a message and brand that thoughtfully articulates your value proposition, resonates with your customer, and converts into a desired end-result. That end result may be profit (purchase my product), a change in behavior (don't drink and drive), or a call to action (join the Army).

To achieve desired results, you need to not only know yourself well, you need to know your target market even better.

Anyone sending out a marketing message needs to know who they need to reach, how those audiences like to receive their messaging, what the best mediums are for reaching them (online, print, in-person), and what the short-term, medium-term, and long-term messages should be.

This advice applies to anyone putting out a message for anything.

Successful dealer marketing campaigns don't just happen. They are the result of strategically focused, research-based initiatives that begin with a solid understanding of who you need to reach and how, and they culminate with a message that attracts, informs, and changes behavior.

If you are a motor business owner or manager, I encourage you to spend some time studying some of the successful brands around you. Think about their messaging. They are much more than name and a logo. Why do they appeal to you? How do you connect with them? A lot of strategy and thought went into their positioning.

All business owners, on any budget, can find marketing coaches to help them. Your marketing strategy is the primary business function to successfully articulate your value, tell your story, and convince your customer to trust you with their business.

By undermining the value of a strong marketing strategy, you are undermining your own value. The investment in a solid marketing strategy up front will pay great dividends down the road. Marketing, after all, is not all about you. Ultimately, it is about the customer.

At Motor Trade Solutions our team of creative designers and innovative thinkers have a track record of developing and implementing clever marketing strategies or tools that deliver tangible results. They understand the pressures you face day-to-day and talk your language.

Using our outsourced marketing services to take your business marketing strategy to a higher level, they will generate new and innovative solutions to your problems. They will also plan ahead and allow your business to be pro-active rather than reactive to the market place and can even plan and organise your quarterly campaigns, new vehicle launch, used car events etc.

For some businesses we are their ‘think tank’, for others we are strategic consultants and to many we are the agency that handles their entire marketing, either working with an existing in-house team, existing agency or as an outsourced marketing function.

For an initial discussion or more information please call Motor Trade Solutions on 0845 658 6880 or contact us and start making an impact in your sales department.