How Mazda have used Auto Trader’s online masterclasses to support sales throughout their network
In October 2020, we launched RPM, a new online learning centre for retailers, complete with bitesize masterclasses to help improve business profitability across the automotive ecosystem from sourcing the right stock to pricing to market and expertly advertising stock. It’s available to all retailers, on-demand, 24/7 and, completely free of charge.
Five months on, we caught up with Andreas Welham, Head of Remarketing and Residual Values at Mazda UK to find out how they’ve been implementing our new Retailer Performance Masterclasses (RPM) throughout their network.
How have you rolled out the RPM masterclasses within your dealer network and there any particular roles within the business that you think RPM is most suitable for?
Mazda rolled out the programme by introducing it to the network from our Sales Director who invited all Marketing and Used Car Managers to take part as well as Dealer Principles. The roll out was in three phases, the first was through our official dealer communications platform which invited all relevant parties to two Mazda specific webinars topped and tailed by our Sales Director (the webinars being part two). Before the dealer joined on-line to the webinar we encouraged them to complete at least the first two modules. Phase three is being conducted now though our used car sales team and they are (via Teams) taking the dealers through our own version of the Strategy Builder, simultaneously the sales team are encouraging the dealer to complete all the RPM modules.
Would you recommend RPM to other retailers?
Yes, I would. OK first off, it’s FREE. More importantly though and this is so crucial for many Franchised dealers, this is top quality sales and business training for the used car and marketing departments which can be forgotten when it comes to the manufacturer’s own training programmes.
We’ve committed to launching fresh content every month to RPM, what other topics would you like to see included?
How to make the most of your existing customers and having a good CRM system can help you – don’t wait for them to come to you.
Which modules did you find most beneficial and why?
I rated the Strategy Builder module the highest as it taught me a different way to value the used car ‘pitch’ and how important turnover is. My second favourite module would have to be the Advertising module, getting this right especially under lockdown and click and deliver is so important.
Over 1700 retailers have engaged with our digital masterclasses since launching back in October. If you’ve not had a chance to check out the content yet, visit the hub now.
