WHICH AGENTS DESERVE SUPPORT?
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The User Looks to the Agent for Value for his Money—for Real " Service " : The Competent and Willing Agent, Therefore, is the One to Support.
By "Vim."
0.'ti THE SHOULDERS of manufacturers who believe in dealing through loos] agents rests a far heavier 'responsibility than many of them .apparentlyappreciate. Too often the sole consideration allowed to count when an appointment is being made is the applicant's prospects of promoting sales ; too rarely is his ability to render " service " to the user given its true weight. Sales , promotion must, in the end, be affected by the agent's service to his customers, but, so far as my experience goes, the vital 'significance of this fact is quite generally ignored, while the points that rank most highly in an applicant's favour are his readiness to promise the telling of so many vehicles per contract season, and to pay his deposit thereon. Next in order come the size and style of his. premises, and his plant to handle repairs.. Almost last in the list of qualifications is, as a rule, his willingness, his desire to help his customers to run their vans and lorries economically and satisfactorily.
It is, of course, very important indeed that acommercial vehicle distributor should have adequate premises and equipment, but it is imperative thathe himself should be of the "right stuff." The need for the local agent, and the only justification for his coming between manufacturers and purchasers, is wrapped up in the assistante he can and will give both the ctbersparties—on the one hand, by keeping in dose touch with all the users in his district and advising them on matters connected with their vehicles ; on the other, by seeing that purchasers! ears are kept regularly at work, involving his stocking replacement parts and maintainihg an efficient repairs department. But he must be so constituted that he will do these things because he wants to do them; that is to say, because he realizes his responsibilities as a useful member of the trading world and, particularly, of the motor trade.
There are hundreds, perhaps thousands would be nearer the mark, of new garages that 'have sprung into existence since the end of the war. Some of them are run by opportunists and will in due course shut up shop; some are run by incompetents and fools, and will also go out of business or pass into other hands ; but some—what proportion it is impossible to say—are being run by the right sort of men on the right lines, who will certainly make good, though they are not all men who have launched out in a big way. Similarly, there are thousands of old-established garages under the control of many different types of individuals— big concerns built up on a solid foundation of local reputation and goodwill, and big concerns getting an immense turnover by plausible advertising and largo profits by shady dealings; small concerns that are steadily growing to importance by reason of •straight dealing and honest repairs, and small ones that never will be anything else because their proprietors are content just to jog along. Do all manufacturers realize these varying qualities of local agentS ? Maybe thdre is one here atid there who does understand the virtue of personality in the motor trade, but it is to be feared that tim majority judge more by premises than by the quality of the men behind them. In my opinion, no agent should be a-ppointed until a representative of the manufacturer has stayed a day or two in his locality and made inquiries as to his ways of business, if possible from the applicant's customers. To secure proper represents, tion is worth that trouble and, in this way, it would frequently be found that some firm of quite moderate dimensions is better fitted to give 'service than one whose size might. lead a casual caller to believe other wise. . • It will be much to the advantage of the motor trade when manufacturers in general exercise a more careful scrutiny of agency applications than is common at present. Every genuine motor trader feels that his reputation is injured, by incompetence or unbtisinesslike behaviour on the part of any of his fellows. The rather haphazard methods that have held sway up. to now ought to be done away with, and then everyone would benefit.
If these remarks should meet the eye of a "wrong sort" of agent, let him ask himself how long he expets to! hold his agency when_ the garage industry reaches that high level of all-round efficiency which it would undoubtedly have occupied by this time, had the war not retarded its progress by five years. Mere • talk about service will not save him. The, only thing that can save him is that he make himself indispensable to users of commercial vehicles. As a, seller alone he is not indispensable, though he may do something towards consolidating his position by studying his subject, so as to be able to give business house's in his district sound and honest ad-trice respecting the most suitable types of motor transport vehicles for their several purposes, for that is a function. for which an intermediary in commerce can command support and demand remuneration.
• But, before he will be-absolutely safe; he must come out of his garage and mentally pat hirnself in the place of his customers, •so as to grasp what it is that they need from him. If he has in' him enough decent ma -terial to make the right Sort of agent, he will discover that tislirs.-want whole-hearted help, that they want him to organize his repairs department so that every breakdown shall be of the shortest possible duration, that they want him to yet for them, to tell them what they should do or not do in order to obtain long life from their vehicles, and always to remember that, as their transport is a charge on their profits, 07.:_pense must be considered.
The users with whom he comes in contact with him to act for them because they do not want to be bothered with looking after their vans or lorries themselves. Once a garage proprietor gets this fact into his head, and sets out to relieve them of the worries connected with maintaining a few vehicles in good going condition, henot only renders his position as a_n intermediary secure, but begins to build up for himself a reliable income,. In saying that users do not wish to be bothered with looking after their vehicles, refer, obviously, to other than large users, who, as I remarked in last week's' article, usually find it convenient to inaugurate their own maintenance and service organization.
Incidentally, "service" appears to me to be one of the least understood of terms used in relation to motoring and motor transport. It does not ,mean doing work for nothing, putting down stunt machines so as to be able to talk about them, or printing-the word on note headings. The import of it is vastly wider than any of these. In fine, it means to serve one's customers. People are al-Ways willing to pay for real service. Beyond the carrying out, free of charge, the preliminary adjustments that are in-variably necessary during the first few weeks of a new vehicle's career, I am no advocate of charity work for users, nor do I think they desire it. Honest work merits honest payment, and that is why there is money to be made from handling the commercial vehicle trade. Users are prepared to pay for having their cars maintained in running order, and to pay the man who serves them best in thiS respect more than the man Who serves them second best ; but they look for value for their. money and'that -they can' only assesS by the promptitude and effectiveineis with which he sinoothes atkay their-troubles.