Big Service, Small Fleet

What’s wrong with the following scenario? Phillip McGee is the commercial manager from the local GM dealership. He arrives at your office to tell you what he recommends as your best bet for the five Oldsmobiles your salespeople drive. “I’ve run the numbers every way,” says McGee, “and considering the state’s tax laws and the nature of your business, you’re going to be much better off leasing. Here’s why.”

McGee explains the ins and outs of leasing and the advantages for a small fleet like yours. “Of course, the dealership will trade in your current fleet and deliver the new vehicles next week. And we’ll take care of all of the paperwork.”

Before leaving, McGee offers coupons arranged for your employees with the nearby tire dealership and quick-lube service center.Of course, there’s nothing wrong with this scenario. But if you operate a small fleet, it’s highly unlikely. Until now, only super-size companies with more cars than hairs on your head have enjoyed such superior service.

Now here’s the good news. Automobile manufacturers are starting to address the needs of the small-business fleet, allowing companies with as few as five to 10 cars to drive like the big boys.

“No one’s paid much attention to the small-fleet market,” says Jack Griffin, Oldsmobile national fleet sales manager. “If you didn’t purchase or lease at least 10 automobiles a year, you were considered a dealership customer. But if you were interested in more than one, the dealership considered you a fleet prospect.”

If you’ve navigated this fleet no-man’s land, you’re not alone. More than 11 million businesses are too small to be served by the large manufacturers’ fleet departments. Fortunately, someone’s been considering the weight of this market, with the result that such new programs as GM’s Business Vehicle Services (BVS) have sprung to life.

More than selling cars

BVS is an initiative to serve the fleet needs of small businesses at the dealership level. All the GM divisions, including Buick, Cadillac, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Chevrolet, are participating in the program, which is being rolled out nationwide over the next year. In 1997, GM ran a pilot BVS program at 20 dealerships in the Dallas, Washington and Baltimore markets.

BVS changes the current business model between dealerships and small-business customers by having the dealership call on the customer at their place of business. The program encourages a proactive, consultative selling approach over the traditional method of waiting for sales at the dealership.

But BVS is much more than that, says Jack Griffin. “It isn’t just about selling cars. The program’s intent is to build relationships. In fact, we’re telling these dealerships that if they sell a car in the first six to nine months of this program, it will be totally by accident. We want them in there getting to know their customers’ businesses and unique transportation needs.”

Transportation consultants

Responsibility for relationship building falls on the commercial manager, the individual at each participating dealership that administers BVS. “The commercial manager is not another salesperson on the shop floor,” says Dan Donar, Cadillac national fleet sales manager. “He’s out in the community visiting customers and earning their trust.”

The commercial manager gives the customer one point of contact for all of the dealership’s services. BVS is intended to save the customer time and the hassle of having to deal with different dealership personnel. The customer will not have to visit the dealership at all, as the commercial manager will arrange everything off-site, including vehicle service pickup and delivery.

To help design BVS, GM conducted focus groups across the country and learned that small businesses are interested in advice on a variety of transportation issues. “They wanted someone to help them understand the differences in leasing, buying or reimbursing. They wanted help with issues like servicing and fuel efficiency,” says Griffin. Thus, the commercial manager undergoes extensive training at GM headquarters to become an expert on numerous fleet subjects.

“At most small businesses, fleet responsibility falls on someone like the sales director, the CFO or the owner. We’re training our commercial managers to become the fleet administrators for their customers, to become their transportation consultants,” says Dan Donar.

To that end, every commercial manager carries a laptop with the dealership’s new and used car inventories, parts and service information, competitive data and financing information. Each commercial manager will also regularly connect to the BVS intranet for access to hundreds of resources. The intranet will play a crucial role in the commercial manager’s ongoing education process.

“Perhaps the most important feedback we got from the focus groups is that our customers want people who can come in and understand their business,” says Griffin. “Our commercial managers will be able to get everything they need off the intranet to go in and talk intelligently about any type of business.”

Deal makers

Every GM car that’s sold through a dealership is considered a retail car, which means BVS cars are not eligible for fleet incentives. But Griffin and Donar say the dealerships are often able to put together incentive packages that are equal to or more attractive than the fleet program offers. The natural result of closer relationships between a commercial manager and the dealership’s customers is that the manager will know more about the business’s needs and will be able to write deals accordingly, says Donar.

The number of BVS participants from the approximate 9,000 GM dealerships is growing, but Griffin does not expect all of them to participate. The GM division GMAC will administer the program by handling the commercial manager training, the leads database and the BVS intranet services. Participating dealerships are provided prescreened leads generated through direct mail. Donar says savvy dealerships will likely institute purchase plans to market to the customers’ employees.

BVS is not the automobile industry’s only small-business fleet initiative (Ford operates Ford Business Preferred and Chrysler, Volvo and Jaguar have programs) but it certainly has potential to become the largest. “It’s exciting and unusual that all five divisions of GM are working together on this,” says Jack Griffin. “But it makes sense because the customer benefits. Everything will be much quicker and better through the network than it would be if the program were limited to one division. Plus, there won’t be any conceivable application that GM can’t take care of, from top-end luxury to compacts.”

Griffin envisions BVS evolving into a program similar to the airlines’ frequent flyer programs with cross-promotional opportunities developed with such partners as cellular phone, tire and car wash companies. “Some of that will be done on the national level and some will be done by the commercial manager. Certainly that person will know the individual needs of his customer best,” says Griffin.

Industry experts say companies operating small fleets are in for more products and services like BVS being marketed to their needs as the fleet industry realizes the huge potential of the small-business market. So slide behind the wheel, as few or as many as you need, and start your engines.