3:27 pm, September 27, 2016
JAGUAR Land Rover is encouraging its dealership network to bring in non-commission-based salaries for its sales people.
The move comes as part of the company’s £1bn investment in its UK retail network, which is intended to bring the Jaguar and Land Rover branding together in one cohesive package. The manufacturer is currently targeting 86 per cent of its retailers to be dual-brand sites by 2020.
Speaking to Car Dealer Magazine, Jeremy Hicks, managing director of JLR, said the new guidelines for sales people’s pay would benefit everyone, starting with the staff themselves. ‘It’s hard enough for – typically young people – to get a sufficient salary to get a mortgage, and one of the problems when you’re on a low basic topped up with commission is you almost rule yourself out from ever getting a mortgage.’
Hicks, pictured, added that he hoped the change would also have a positive effect on the customer experience, and said: ‘Why should a commission encourage someone to do a better job than if they didn’t receive one? I want us to employ people in our network who do the job because they’re passionate about doing the right thing all the time.’
However, he acknowledged that he was asking retailers to take a leap of faith, but ‘when I sit them down and I lay out my arguments one-on-one, nobody really disagrees with me.’
JLR has been looking at the way Apple created a unique high street experience for electronics customers as inspiration for its new retail spaces.
‘We are launching a stream of great new cars. It’s absolutely right that the showroom environment is [in line] with the products and the brand,’ said Hicks.
‘If you look at the traditional Jaguar and Land Rover dealers, they look completely different. There is no family feel in the architecture, so we’ve had to, and wanted to, create a common look and feel for both brands.’
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