Ideas Please

Right after your imput... we are having the showroom redone for the 500 launch (jan), what sort of things would you like to see introduced/ have already seen in showrooms to make the whole "buying a new car" experience better for yourselves? bit of a hard question for you i know without atcually seeing what its like at the moment, if we just say its looking basic 7 cars on show with a couple of brochure stands... no tea/ coffee machine either although if you ask nice...
thanks S_S

starbucks with cars

May not be relivent for a "NEW" car showroom but...

I have always wanted a showroom to have a PC with the internet on, so that I can get insurance quotes from MY insurance company.

the worst thing about showrooms is salesmen, but i cant see how you could get rid of them.

funny you should mention that, there has been rumors about getting touch screen computers so you can enter your spec and find out the price without atcuall having to chat to anybody!

sounds perfect.

i dont see how you could haggle the price down and get things thrown in for free when dealing with a computer, but thats a small price to pay. its still better than dealing with a salesman.

Comfy leather seats, where rather then sit at a desk/uncomfortable plastic chair, you could reax on the sofa and think your purchase through

i think that the internet idea is good as well.

and what about sky plus or a dvd player or something to keep the young kiddies ammused whilst mum and dad look around there new purchase

Have a hard look around the place. What do you see? Paint charts from 2004? Literature for last year's models? Banners that are for past sales events or promotions? Toilets accessable to the public that look or smell bad? Clutter? Tatty furniture? Accessory displays for models no longer sold?

You get the picture. Get that stuff OUTTA there!!! clean up and make it look as nice as possible. Invest in the business a little bit of time and money and it can pay dividends. Someone already mentioned plastic chairs and the like. Get rid of them. You don't have to overdo it and spend ten thousand or so(unless it really IS bad) but you get the idea.

You only get one chance to make a good first impression, so make a good one.

I bring this up because it's an accurate reflection of the Fiat dealer that I bought my Idea from. The impression they give really isn't the best and it hides the fact that they have an excellent service department. I wonder how many folks have walked in there, looked around and left because of the untidy image they present.

Hey, can Scooby post a couple of pix of the place as it is at the moment?

hit it.

i used to love going to the showroom and looking at the new cars every year

still do

When i go to the garage with my mum and dad when they go to see there car that they are looking at purchasing i usually manage to swindle myself a a test drive in something to sweeten the deal

Like when they got there s-class i was talking to the dealer asking what the a-class was like to drive (and then he let me have a little test drive round the industrial estate in it ).

Sometime just for fun i like to go into showrooms and have a look around the models. Its good when you dont have any pushy salesmen as well

I like going to car-craft as they always have a big selection there, but they are always so pushy there, wanting to talk finance and insurance when you ronly having a gander

Dont think i can post any piccy's up sorry, dont want to get into any trouble. I only work within the aftersales dept so wont atcually get to make any choices but at least i can put a few ideas across and try to influance the way the place looks! I'm trying to swing a PS3 into the waiting area just for customer use whilst waiting for the cars to be serviced ;-) !! but yeah, all very valid points! If a customer needs use of the internet/ phone we do already have an office set aside for a bit of privacy to chat/ look up insurance costs ect... as for the "plastic chairs" every desk and chair is getting changed. obv comfort is a main concern as we need to make you feel as comfortable as poss when making what is usually is the 2nd biggest purchase after your house! one of my pet hates with our place is the plants... they look like they were in the 80's might have been nice then, not now. cant wait till ther out of here! Bartering with the computer, we all know electrics on fiats isnt the best so a few repeated button clicks might just do the trick for you! All our old displays and offers are being re-done new fiat colours... no blue allowed just red! Thanks and keep me posted!

We are trying to get rid of the plastic style 80's plants in my workplace.

I suggested that as we work at a company that sells playground equipment and we have a lot of small componenets.

We could realce them with the small components in a glass case or something just labeling up what they are

ps3 = gimmic, the techs will play on it during breaktime and customers will feel left out

plastic plants = burn them, replace with real plants, or none atall.

kiddies play area = I remember years back when the lupo was launched in my local dub dealer there was a playpen, FULL of lupo parts, it wasn't designed for kiddies, but adults and that could pick the bits up and play with them (was mirrors, and headrests, and steering wheels, badges, front wing!, headlights etc).


as for a computer with internet, tis a minty idea. maybe style it into a bit of curvy platic that looks like the arse end of the 500 or panda?

salesmen = bin them aswell, or at least give customers 10mins to browse, but don't let them dissapear compeltly, because when you actually want them they've left th building

finance = bin that too. I've found that higher end manufacters offer deals worth taking but with the budget cars, there is very rarely anything on offer worth having, probably because theres only a couple of hundred £ in a punto for a salesteam, yet a bimmer series5 theres maybe a grand and a bit. so they need every penny off every thing they can flog.