10:04 am, January 21, 2015
WE NEED your help to discover the manufacturers and suppliers who do their best for you – and unmask those who don’t. Yes, it’s time once again for the Car Dealer Power Awards.
There’s one thing you can say about dealers (okay, there are lots of things you can really say about dealers, but let’s keep it clean..) and that is they’re never short of a word or two.
Get two of them in the same room – or be alone with one in a showroom, with a car to sell – and there’s no shutting them up.
And today, we’re asking all dealers reading this: Talk to us!
It’s time for the sixth Car Dealer Power Awards. ‘What are they’ can I hear you ask? If so, just where have you been for the past five years?
They’re the biggest, most comprehensive, and most talked about (see, told you dealers talk a lot) survey of its kind in the industry.
You’ll see loads of questions, about manufacturers and suppliers. All we want are your views. We want to know what manufacturers are best and how good they are at helping you out, what website designers you use, what finance houses are best, what suppliers go beyond the call.
We’ll feed all those answers into the super-powerful Car Dealer computer. It will scratch its head and contemplate the answers, and then spit out the data we need to make sense of it all.
By the end of the process, we’ll have a very good idea about the manufacturers and suppliers who are very, very good. About those who are merely okay. And those who are pants.
We’ll be sharing the data, and in the past manufacturers and suppliers have made changes to the way they work on the back of the feedback we give them.
Click here to fill out the Car Dealer Power survey
Can I say what I really think?
Yes! The beauty of all of this is that it’s totally, absolutely anonymous. Car Dealer magazine is on the side of the car dealer (there’s a clue in the name). So when we discuss the findings over a cup of tea (something stronger, probably, with those who haven’t fared so well) we’ll tell them what we found, but not who told us.
And the reason for that is simple. We don’t ask you for your name.
In the past, we’ve asked for a mobile number. We have only ever wanted it because we’ve had a few prizes (okay, a few bribes) to give away to people who filled in the survey.
This year, we’re not even asking for a mobile number (and, you may think, it’s because we’re too tight to go out and buy prezzies for you. And you’d be right…)
Some dealers thought we might pass on their individual comments, and were worried about being too critical. Of course, we would never do that. Remember, we’re on your side. So to allay any fears, your replies are absolutely anonymous. And the Car Dealer super-computer will assess the answers, not the envelope, the forms, or IP addresses of those who enter online.
At the end of the process, we’ll know who are the best of the best. And we’ll hold a glitzy awards night to celebrate their achievement, which will be on Thursday, April 23 at the Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth. Of course, it’s really just an opportunity to get dressed up in our best penguin suits and sparkly dresses (and some may want to wear both) and have a drink or two!
So how do I enter?
Simples, as silly-looking meerkats would say. Fill in the form in this month’s issue of Car Dealer, and post it to us to the address shown. Or, if you don’t want to tear out pages and wreck your copy of the best business publication of 2014 (and to be honest, seeing we spend ages… well, weeks… well, days… well, a few hours between eating meat pies and drinking tea… putting this magazine together, we’ll be pretty peeved if you then rip it to shreds) make a photocopy and send that to us.
The CDSC (that’s a posh name for the Car Dealer Super Computer) would prefer online entries, as it can chew on those without a poor, under-paid secretary (or, more likely, a poor, under-paid Car Dealer editor) first having to slump over a keyboard and input all the data by hand. Log on to CarDealerPower.com to do that.
So, please take a few minutes to complete the form (have we mentioned doing it online is best?) and we can then award those manufacturers and suppliers who go out of their way to make life easier for all of us.
Thanks for your help with this. Suppliers and manufacturers may want to give their clients and dealers a nudge and ask them to take part. And if so, just remember – entering online at CarDealerPower.com is best…
