Hello fellow Bimmerphiles! I just wanted to write to you briefly and discuss the Oktoberfest event we had here at the dealership; I’d like to thank all of the community in Northwest Indiana, Chicago, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio that came out to show your cars, listen to awesome music and play in the bouncy houses. I put some photos up for everyone to see on Flickr; you can see the pictures at the following locations:

http://www.bmwinschererville.com/page/custom/en/Customer_Appreciation_Day - Customer Appreciation Day Photos!

http://www.bmwinschererville.com/page/custom/en/Octoberfest_Photos_Car_Show - Car Show and Battle of the Bands Photos!

http://www.bmwinschererville.com/page/custom/en/kids_carnival_photos - Kidz Karnival Photos!

We had a ton of fun hanging out with everyone in October, and we hope that those who attended the event really enjoyed themselves. I have uploads of the recipie cards from our Customer Appreciation Night up on the website here:

http://www.bmwinschererville.com/page/custom/en/BMW_Octoberfest_Recipes

Thanks again for making our Oktoberfest so awesome! As always, I’ll be writing to you soon.

Luxury Manufacturers Lead the Way for a Fully-Connected Driving Experience Through Technology.

August 24th, 2011

by Christopher Ofcky

Good morning followers of IAMBMW.com, and a hello to all of our new viewers that may be stumbling upon this blog for the first time. A while back we discussed how various BMW Dealerships in the United States, including my own BMW of Schererville are making use of Apple’s iPad and other related Technology to assist customers in the turning-in of leases, and genuinely making life easier, leading to a better shopping experience for consumers, and a lower cost for dealers.

Fast forward a bit into the earlier summer — the 2012 BMW 650 launched with great success, BMW’s ConnectedDrive for 2011 was finally at its pinnacle of success. Through it, a customer could stream media and album artwork, read text messages and flip through portable documents, right from their vehicle’s iDrive screen. With the addition of the 2011 X3 and the new 2012 X5s to the lineup, monitors in vehicles are becoming larger and larger (8.8 inches standard, in the case of the X3, with 10.1″ being offered for Navigation-equipped models).

Now, manufacturers such as BMW, General Motors, Ford, Mercedes Benz — everyone — is in on the technology craze. Customers can unlock doors, return leases, and in BMW’s case, map and share awesome driving routes with one another from the BMW FS App, right on their iPhone or Android mobile device. These social navigation tools allow us to share things with one another in ways we would have thought impossible years ago.

So what does that mean for consumers?

Simple. More fun, and more expectations.

Imagine a vehicle fully connected to you; a vehicle capable of performing every task your mobile device can, and sharing information with it. We spend just as much time in our vehicles as we do in our houses; being comfortable and keeping informed remains our number 1 priority, and BMW understands that. BMW’s led this charge for years, with BMW Assist and now Enhanced Bluetooth streaming and USB functionality, becoming almost standard on its vehicles. Already, with the Connected Drive, consumers can link their cellular phones to their vehicle’s navigation system, sharing points of interests, great spots for driving, and positive experiences with dealers.

I can only imagine what another five years will hold.

Until next time!

The Internet and You: Keys to Successful Negotiation in Car Buying, Part 2

July 18th, 2011

By Christopher Ofcky

     Good morning Everyone! Last month we discussed some of the myths behind buying automobiles on the Internet and some of the blunders on behalf of the consumer — today we’ll talk about some of the biggest mistakes dealerships make when it comes to communicating with their audiences, and how these mistakes are reviewed by consumers or prospective buyers in general. It’s a known fact as we discussed in the previous post that buying online has garnered a strong reputation for being easy and hassle-free, yet automobile dealers are still one of the few online sellers left where it’s often mandated that you’ll have to set foot in the door at one point in time. It can be frustrating for both the dealer and the consumer to become involved in internet transactions, and here are some of the reasons why.

Dealers: “Be as Ambigious As Possible, We’ll Worry About it When They’re Here”.

In theory, this is the classic strategy of closing the internet customer: ambigious language, not going in-depth with taxes, break-downs of selling prices, cap costs, dealer fees, and just letting the customer know, “yes, we can do xxx/month on that car”. More often than not, this sort of technique works — more often than not, the dealer is telling the truth: they can do that payment, but perhaps not with the same options. Fast forward to when the customer shows up: “We don’t have that option, it’s going to be more for that” and so on and so forth. This places the customer in a defensive position, and even though they may buy, everything would be fine. .up until they see your reviews on a public forum, and feel they’ve been wronged. Manufacturer surveys also reflect this practice, and Dealers are often miffed when they believe a customer is happy, but get blasted on a customer service survey or over Google. Avoid this, and be up front. If you “worry about it when they’re here”, you’ll be worrying about it when they leave.

Dealers: Nothing but an e-mail gets nothing but a generic response.

This is something we’ve all been guilty of, and it’s an extreme annoyance to many of us — my last article pointed to this as a bad practice for customers — but let’s face it. .we call people. .a lot. And sometimes people just aren’t as social as we are; we must learn to accept this. I have a pretty high e-mail conversion rate, and I like to write, but seeing a lead come in with just an e-mail address still gets me a little red in the face. Still, we have to get better at answering these in timely fashions. Many users (myself included), prefer e-mail to a phone call because of its flexibility and because it’s more private than taking a call, less disruptive than having to get up and talk to someone for an unknown time.  Work it like it’s a digital phone call, and remember that just because there’s no phone number, it doesn’t mean the customer isn’t serious.

Dealers: “Your customer is here, don’t worry — I’ll take it”.

I think it’s generally widely known by now that most Internet Sales people don’t actually sell the vehicles. When I worked in the domestic industry, I did both (customer service as well as demonstration/payments/selling, etc); with as many customers as we handle on a daily basis, we simply couldn’t provide good customer service and handle inquiries all day long, it would force us into only wanting to take the best deals. I’ve had some customers even come into the dealership and say, “Wow, I’m surprised you exist”. If you have a system in your dealership that allows a gentle hand-off from the Internet Sales Manager to the Client Advisor, make the customer aware of what to expect when they come in, and make sure your Salespeople always let the Internet Agents know they have a customer in the dealership. You have to remember that we have spent a good deal of time in many cases building well-deserved trust, and this ultimately hurts your customers’ opinions of you, as well as your Internet Department and even perhaps, your sale.

Dealers: Follow-Up, Follow-Through.

How many times has this happened to you, as a consumer — or to you as a dealer: the deal is all worked out, everyone is happy with the results and then something goes amiss; the car isn’t as promised, has been sold, has more miles than expected, etc. Though it’s often hard to keep track of every vehicle in and out of the dealership, put your hands on it! Don’t assume that the last posted mileage on your website is correct. When you tell the customer that everything is one way, and they show up to buy and it clearly isn’t, it spells doomsday for you. Most often, I think customers would agree that if the minor things were simply disclosed to them beforehand, they’d still have shown up to purchase the vehicle, or at least see it. If a customer still can’t make a decision — call or e-mail them. Don’t just forget about them when they leave. The difference between a one-time customer and a repeat customer is follow-up.

Well, I hope this has been somewhat insightful for some people; I am sure many dealers practice this way, but I thought it may be nice for the consumer to see our ires on many of the issues to know that the experience can be frustrating on both sides. I hope this shines some light on what we work diligently to try and avoid for the average buyer. I welcome any and all questions/comments.

Until next time!

Christopher

Wow! That's a lot of red dots!

Buying a Car in Chicago? You have a lot of choices.

The Internet and You: Keys to Successful Negotiation in Car Buying, Part 1.

June 23, 2011

By Christopher Ofcky

  Good afternoon shoppers, loyal IAMBMW followers, my previous and future customers, and just those who are like me on their days off and love to surf the web but have little else to do over a morning cup of coffee, trying to forget the massive, hectic work schedule most of us lead and occasionally love! Today on IAMBMW, we’re going to discuss the basics of the Internet Department and consumer shopping as it pertains to purchasing a vehicle online.

 When I first started in the automotive business five years ago, Internet shopping had been going on for some time, and was doing nothing but picking up pace. Yet, I still knew many dealerships that refused to embrace the Internet Sales Consultant position, and many more than never bothered to put real focus on their websites. However, as you can see from the image on my right (courtesy of Google, the all-knowing search engine), this clearly is no longer the case.

  While it’s true that many of you do still shop dealers the “old fashioned way” — walking onto their lot and making a deal for something — many of you enjoy the services that Internet Departments in dealerships bring you: photos of vehicles, solid pricing structures, the ability to answer your questions in a timely manner, and values for your cars, explanations of taxes, et cetera. Yet, for as much as consumers value an Internet Sales Consultant, there’s still many that find themselves frustrated by the way dealerships handle Internet customers.

  So, in an attempt to help you — the consumer — and perhaps even some other dealerships out there get along better, I’ve decided to write this bridge to the gap in communication break-downs. I’ve noticed a ton of third-party sites out there that instruct consumers on the pitfalls of what not to do when purchasing a vehicle, but a lot of these sites merely point towards basic essentials which I know the majority of my customers already know. Fewer of them place special focus on online departments, and how to get more for your money out of them. So, I’ve compiled a short list of things which might help consumers and explain a bit more of the process on the dealer’s end. It’s important to remember that I’m not in this to sell a car (lucky you, phew!), but I genuinely want to bring this to light because I feel it’s under-dressed in my industry. So, without further adieu, I give you the most common mistakes Internet Sales Consultants and Consumers make when interfacing with one other.

1: Consumer Myth: Remaining as Anonymous as possible will get me the best deal.

False. Actually, this is likely worse than giving an Internet Department too much of your information, even if you’re a relatively private person, and allow me to explain why. As an Internet Sales Manager, and a former Sales Consultant (both on the floor and on the phone), I’ve seen this end in nothing but pitfalls, for both the consumer and the department. Your average internet department in the Chicagoland area typically has two to four people in it, depending on volume, and handles roughly 200 phone calls a day just in follow-up alone as well as all incoming request for information and sales calls.

Just like our customers, we yearn for a strong connection and interfacing with who we’re selling a product to. Our primary goal is to get customers the information they ask for, and set up an appointment for them to drive the vehicle. If I’m working 10 requests for information, and all of them have contact information such as phone numbers and real names, I’m obligated to get to these customers first because they have given me an honest request.

Remaining anonymous to the point of giving us a fax number as a phone number, two initials for your name, and a skeptical e-mail address often puts you right on the back burner. Now, I’m not saying to give every bit of your background to the Internet Department, but you want to know who you’re speaking with, right? So do we.

2: Consumer Myth: Internet Departments don’t care about profit, as they get paid on volume. 

Again, False. It’s been my experience that while Internet Departments do have the lowest prices on vehicles compared to the “lot price”, it would be hard to keep the doors open by giving them away. It’s been an industry myth for a long time that Internet Departments get paid on volume, so they don’t necessarily care about price. What consumers don’t take into consideration in this equation, is that dealers own a particular vehicle for a particular price; going through the internet department won’t change that number.

 It’s also important to remember that while Internet Departments may not be paid on profit, Salespeople are. It would be a very difficult task indeed to set up a deal with absolutely no profit in it, and expect a Client Advisor to give all of their time and attention to the customer when they come through the door to pick-up the car. Ultimately, we want your business. .but we want to keep our doors open. And we want to be able to afford things that our customers want: free wi-fi, complimentary beverages, loaner cars, etc.

Even that Internet Consultant you enjoy talking to can run up a dealer’s bill, particularly if they’re overworked. We’re not trying to crush you, we’re just trying to keep our doors open in many cases. 

3: Consumer Myth: They just want to lure me to the dealership so they can switch me to a different car! 

True and False. As a dealer, if I understand my consumer has been within my brand for quite some time, or is shopping very specific model with specific options, I will do my best to give them the unique information necessary to their purchase, mainly because it’s actually easier for me, than to have the customer drive 50 of my cars when the customer and I both know they’re only wanting one type of vehicle. However, this consumer — in my experience — is a rarity to run into.

Many of us shop as part of our research, and for a lot of us (including myself), it has less to do with a particular object, and more to do with getting an overall sense of exactly what I need. Dealers have multitudes of vehicles on their lots, and there are simply some things which a consumer will never know until they find that right fit. If you’re a larger person as I am (across the shoulders, for example), you might not be able to fit into that vehicle you want at the price point you’re comfortable with.  If you know 100% what you want — this doesn’t really apply to you, as you’re likely to shoot me a fair offer because you’ve extensively researched and shopped the car.

 However, those of you who are new to the brand? Just ask when you can come in; it really does save us both a lot of time, and frustration. Nothing is worse than negotiating a deal with a consumer for a week and a half, only to find out they can’t fit in the car! The fact is, however, very few people leave a dealership with what they intended to buy. This includes my customers that I’ve worked extensively with.

Well, I’ll quit writing now! I’m sure there will be comments and questions on this, so feel free to leave them and I’ll get to them as quickly as possible, even if you’re not shopping at my dealership. I will be posting part 2 to this blog in the near future, so for those of you who enjoyed reading a different perspective, please follow me on Facebook and check in regularly, or subscribe via RSS. Those of you who didn’t, please leave me comments — I’m always looking to improve my process.

Until next time!

Christopher Ofcky

Director, Internet Sales

BMW of Schererville

219.864.3390

chriso@bmwsch.com

http://www.bmwinschererville.com

Although the new generation of M3 is approximately three years from being reconfigured, the rumor mill has it that BMW Group has been conducting experiments and testing on new engine configuration types which would make the M3 more fuel efficent, faster and even give it a stronger zero to sixty time. The S65-series engine has long been the standard for the M3, and has been known for its throaty noise as well as tremendous horsepower  and foot pound torque. However, as emissions regulations change, and World prices raise on oil futures, BMW  is clearly considering more fuel efficent and compact means of replacement.

One option is to rework engine internals in order to better regulate speed and efficency of the engine; BMW apparently has begun work on turning their single-turbo into a dual, and by adding the bi-turbo, it is believed that it would only result in nominal horsepower gains, but would add more torque as well as miles per gallon — something the current generation of M3 seriously lacks when compared to other lower displacement sport vehicles.

Should BMW go another route and choose to place a modified N54 or N55 engine in the vehicle, it is highly likely that a price drop would be seen in the vehicle, as fuel efficency goes up but production costs go down, perhaps even allowing the M3 to be frequently mass produced and reviving the M-Series brand as a serious, sold contender for sportscar enthusiasts in 2014-2015.

Of course, some rumors go entirely the other way. AMG would likely prefer a faster, much more powerful engine such as those used in the M5 and M6 series vehicles, the standard F10, or 10 Cylinder engine. Initial costs could be controlled by using overstock from the M brands, while a redesign would be necessary given the F10’s large motor; it is likely that this would be an efficent route to go provided BMW decides to do a complete front-end revamp on the vehicle.

A V6 engine would also be a possibility, as it would lead to better weight distributi0n and front-rear end balance. This would shoot performance fuel efficency through the roof and allow every M3 driver to get something they desperately want: more time on the track without refueling. A benefit of this, is that a specially-designed 6 engine would also fit the engine bay of the X3 and the Z4, perhaps resulting in M-series distributions of these models at increased horsepower gains.

Whatever the future may be, BMW obviously wants another Engine of the Year Award, as their initial 4.4L engine delivered spectacular performance as well as great horsepower and reliability. It is undoubtedly so that the next engine will be a contender, whatever route they go with.

We’ve all seen them on the road; every once and a while, a small silhouette with large beaming eyes and a small frame; a smile on the grille. While we’re behind the wheel of our larger, typically more powerful and throaty sedans, we chuckle. Yet we forget that the MINI Cooper has a long and established history; a respected history of competitive motorsport performance. The bottom line? You never know if the person next to you at the light has more under the hood than you assume, and as you put your “four to the floor” –you may end up eating the dust of that lightweight, turbocharged European engineered vehicle – all while it wears the likeness of a large smiley face.

At nearly 170 horsepower, the MINI S is already a powerhouse which is unlike most vehicles of its weight class, and shows a surprising advantage to beating out larger sedans, such as the Volvo S40 (The non T5 Version), which is Volvo’s competitor to the BMW 3-Series. Turbocharged engines coupled with aftermarket accessories – as the racing or motorsport community knows – makes a massive difference in the output of horsepower and torque. With the MINI Racing situation heating up for May in Oxford, the popularity of modifying the MINI during this time of year amps up greatly; dealership accessories and aftermarket demand for BVH, racing cams, superchargers, Headers and particularly Bosch accessories amps up with it.

Amidst the cat-back exhausts, dyna-tuning and even engine-swapping with the MINI’s kin – the BMW Brand, MINI enthusiasts are enjoying a whole new world which coupled with aftermarket gurus such as AC Schnitzer can allow the MINI to achieve tremendous dyno charting of nearly 210 horsepower – given its already blistering zero to sixty time, and low amount of start-off weight, this is absolutely crushing to many sedan drivers with sport packages all over the United States – Civic Coupes and SRT-4 MOPAR brand vehicles, long enjoyed by consumers because of their agile turning and off-the-line pick-up are usually amazed when they end up against one of these vehicles; the enhanced technology in pullies and FMIC allows nearly up to 230 horses to the smiling MINI, and is entirely street legal.  

But all street racing aside, many MINI owners find the aftermarket add-ons to be aesthetically pleasing and have a decreased price tag in comparison to what they’d cost on larger vehicles more geared towards direct street sports. The MINI brand allows its owner to fully customize each vehicle, and this doesn’t stop once the car has been purchased.

So for all of you MINI fanatics out there looking for a summer project, time to do a little shopping. Your car will be happy.

Modern Technology assists BMW in Excellent Customer Services.

     A Lease return isn’t supposed to be a long, drawn out experience. Many customers believe this to be true. Modern vehicle dealerships see lease returns as a chance to give local customers a good deal, and maintain a loyalty rate. However, even if a customer is just returning the keys and dropping off the car, the lease usually has to be inspected; papers need to be filed, and a busy day at the dealership can make a 15 minute process tremendously time-consuming if the customer stops in at the wrong time.

     With the iPad pilot program at participating BMW Dealerships, customers get to perform the walkaround with the Client Advisor or Sales Manager and see exactly what information is entered into the inspection sheet. There’s no looking around for extra papers, no filing involved; it makes for a significantly smoother process. And the customers have the benefit of being able to learn exactly how lease turn-ins work, so they can be better prepared for future purchases with BMW. The program was initially launched under a year ago, though many dealerships — such as BMW of Schererville — began using iPads right at launch in customer waiting areas and for practical application as well as entertainment.

     Satisfaction ratings have never been higher, particularly for BMW of Schererville; a business which shows over 400 Google Reviews on excellent customer service and offers a webpage devoted to lease turn-in strategies to keep customers better informed. As leases account for a massive portion of BMW’s used vehicle volume, customer satisfaction is especially important. Client Advisors and customers alike love the new tool.