PMF talks to Chris Journet, Sales Manager at Shaftec, about the twists and turns of steering parts.
According to transmission, braking and steering and suspension supplier, Shaftec, now is exactly the time of year that factors need to be steering Britain’s garages and drivers towards a full check of these safety critical systems. With the British holiday season fast approaching, it’s tempting for drivers to focus on the prospect of a well- deserved rest; driving off into the sunset leaving the job of getting cars winter-ready until the post-holiday blues have retreated.
This, Shaftec says, is a big mistake. Both for drivers in terms of safety and inconvenience and for factors in terms of lost opportunities.
“Far too many people decide at this time of year to leave the more ‘boring’ jobs like car maintenance until after the holiday season. The problem is that before they can say ‘Can I book my car in?’ the weather has turned, the garages are busy and they’re chancing their luck. Along with the braking system, the vehicle’s steering and suspension systems are pivotal to vehicle safety,” Chris explains.
“For the UK motor factor, this time of year is ripe for a bit of self-promotion wrapped up in a bit of clever marketing. Common sense suggests that the better you educate your customers, the more you seem to care – and hopefully the more they will return the favour with repeated loyalty.”
To capitalise on the many benefits of this product group, customer-facing sales reps at factors should be reminded of the various features and benefits, functions, purpose and levels of performance of each part – in other words what they do, how they do it and why they are so important.
Chris continues: “The fitting quirks of individual models should be second nature and of course, as a competitive factor you need to do your brand, quality and price research to ensure you can always count on easy and swift access to the widest range possible.
“Some of our most popular units sell well because they cover multiple applications of popular vehicles – this is always a point to consider as they are manufactured in greater numbers and so availability is always at a max. For example, Nissan and Renault share a lot of parts and VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat have parts that cover many of the models across all four brands.”
