A TRANSFORMATION TO STAY
Competition for automotive customers increasingly focuses on digitalization, connectivity, electrification, and experience. These change drivers deeply impact consumer behavior and have forced automotive sales and marketing teams to embark on a rapid journey toward permanent change.
Change is the new normal – for carmakers, distributors and retailers, as well as for all service providers in the downstream area. Companies must make high-risk system decisions, such as switching from the wholesale-dealer model to direct sales.
These are decisions that can cost billions of euros and are often followed by complex, years-long transformation programs that require intensive orchestration as large global sales and marketing value chains are turned virtually upside-down.
Customers are looking for flexible, usage-based alternatives to owning a car, and they expect their car to be a part of their digital world.
In many segments, emotional attachment to the car and auto brand loyalty are decreasing. And there is more choice: some new BEV entrants are leapfrogging technology generations, and are finding new ways to engage with customers.
Electrification is changing the industry profoundly. It amplifies cost pressure through lower margins on EVs and diminished aftersales profits. Electric charging has become a new challenge, with customers expecting solutions from their car brands and dealers.
Customer expectations on digitalization have intensified. Traditional differentiators and established USPs lose a lot of their relevance in an electrified, digitized and shared vehicle world, while digital USPs have proved hard to create and maintain. Brands have to build costly integrated omnichannel systems – and use all their newly gained data to drive decisions.
After unprecedented decade-long growth, global demand is now at or beyond its peak. From now on any brand will have to grow at the expense of competitors.
Autonomous driving will not be widely enough available before 2030 to have a real impact on the light vehicle industry beyond commercial vehicles.
The future of sales has been at the core of our firm from the start in 2011. We act as critical friends, provocateurs, or as catalysts to our clients. But Different.
Over the last decade we have supported numerous brands on their Future Sales transformations: we have shaped BEV go-to-market approaches for volume brands as well as innovative digital experiences for top end luxury brands. We have helped large premium automakers to make their HQ organisations both future-proof and efficient. We have supported distributors and retailers in expanding core service offerings and new mobility services. We have helped to update and restructure retail networks and we have built digital processes and functional tools along the sales funnel.
Future Sales is inevitably highly digital. Beyond consulting we therefore provide deep digital marketing expertise and operational support through Berylls Mad Media, while Berylls Digital Ventures supports clients and partners with digital tools and business building.
Automakers must understand customer needs in both B2C and B2B target segments, design a differentiated offering to meet those needs, and then transform the sales and marketing organization to deliver this offering.
Future Sales 3.0 includes all channels, no matter whether physical or digital. It requires thinking along the complete life cycles of a vehicle and a customer. It demands a wide and multi-dimensional portfolio of offerings, from vehicles, ownership and usage schemes to digital and vehicle-related services and the packaging and pricing of these offerings.
The sales organizations of car brands must change: they must find new ways of thinking, steering, deciding, collaborating, going to market and allocating their investments. All companies must identify their value proposition in this integrated setup, either by collaborating or by exploiting others’ shortcomings.
We build on our deep industry experience but we do not offer pre-defined solutions. We always tailor our approach to the exact client problem.
We know only one thing for certain: there is no golden solution that fits every brand and solves all the problems that come with the traditional wholesale-dealer model. Many of the purported advantages of direct sales via agents can also be replicated in a well-conceived and well-managed dealer system. Switching systems brings inherent risks and investments. And no matter what, system executional excellence is needed to reap the benefits from any system. Instead of simply following the trend toward agent models we strongly suggest that clients find their own way: what we do is make sure they do it right.
With experience from ‘both sides of the table’ and a commercial mindset that goes far beyond slides and spreadsheets we are uniquely qualified to help clients navigate the strategic rapids of this decisive decade.
As strategy, organizational, and operational consultants we design the ideal strategic approach and the best target operating model for the client’s specific brands and objectives.
Berylls is the right partner for:
Delivering approaches to upskill and transform sales and marketing teams.
The Future Sales systems will never be ‘completed’, but will have to evolve and develop continuously and indefinitely. To meet this challenge we offer regular progress validation through our 360° Future Sales Mission Readiness Check. With a modular structure it provides a neutral and regular assessment of the direction and progress of transformation – and helps to keep it on track. It can be sized and tailored to a client’s specific needs, but it will always give an objective view on progress and direction.
Berylls is the right partner for:
Physical outlets are heavily impacted by the ongoing auto industry transformation but will remain an essential cornerstone of the future customer and brand experience. Yet many existing formats need to be redesigned to fit their evolving purposes.
Our innovative, Big Data based Retail Network Development approach to network design can quickly create a future-proof retail target picture. This will ensure retail networks remain attractive for both customers and investors.
Our innovative and customer-centric approach to network planning encompasses three main steps:
Berylls is the right partner for:
Successful Future Sales models require multiple sales channels – online and offline – and require integration in an efficient, seamless way for the customer. Today, only a fraction of sales are fully online. We expect this to gradually change in the coming years, driven by the ambitious online sales targets of OEMs.
Providers need to build and integrate digital channels – both jointly with their retail network but also as direct-to-consumer models. In the online domain building customer traffic becomes challenging and can lead to very high customer acquisition costs. With online customers increasingly turning toward comparison platforms and existing marketplaces, new co-operations with incumbent digital businesses become more urgent.
Berylls is the right partner for:
As customer expectations for personalization and seamless cross-channel experiences continue to rise, there remains huge potential to improve customer interaction in the automotive industry.
Many CX improvements are planned and prototyped, but too often fail to make it to delivery. For most companies, detailed customer insights are already to hand. Yet the mindset, capabilities, and infrastructure to use the data effectively for real-time decision-making are lacking. Corporate IT landscapes remain fragmented between business units and regions, inhibiting the optimization of customer journeys. Equally fragmented budget planning slows down innovation and incentivizes silo-thinking. Inconsistency between online and real-world touchpoints confuses customers and complicates customer journey development.
Berylls Mad Media helps clients transform into truly customer-centric organizations that focus on personalized customer experiences. We are a team of CX specialists who have successfully guided clients across industries with this challenging endeavor.
Berylls is the right partner for:
Data availability and utilization in decision-making are the prerequisites to intelligently managing the customer journey and its sales funnel. Only when continuously measuring and benchmarking customer engagement and conversion at each touchpoint of the journey can customer experience and marketing performance optimization be realized. Interconnected data sources and automated data orchestration in the backend are as important as analysis, visualization and data literacy in the frontend. Customer experience and intelligent funnel management go hand in hand.
Our Intelligent Sales Funnel Optimization approach and tool measures and improves the cost efficiency of brands' digital sales and marketing systems along the customer journey. This results in higher conversion rates and lower marketing cost per sale.
Berylls is the right partner for:
Automotive e-commerce has been around in various forms for more than 20 years. From the online-first used car sector to Tesla’s “5-Click” online purchase journey for new EVs, the range of digital sales models is already extensive. Yet for traditional OEMs the level of engagement with digital channels remains marginal. The full potential of digital sales is yet to be unleashed.
Customers expect an omnichannel journey and competitors are keen to deliver a definitive digital journey with selected physical touchpoints.
However, there are multi-layered digital pitfalls that OEMs need to confront. Berylls Mad Media has a well-proven toolbox to design, steer and realize an integrated e-commerce portfolio.
Berylls is the right partner for:
For Berylls, the sales model does not end with the handover of a vehicle to the customer. Subsequent customer care and loyalty-building measures are important, as it is usually more cost-efficient to retain customers than to acquire new ones. With shortening ownership cycles and new Vehicle-as-a-Service (VaaS) business models, this becomes increasingly critical. Instead of focusing on new car sales alone, all post-sale activities should be viewed as repurchase activities, leveraging the current vehicle as a connection tool and data source.
Berylls Mad Media has a dedicated team of highly specialized individuals able to create a customer-centric loyalty ecosystem – from idea to reality.
Berylls is the right partner for:
A future-proof offering needs to include multiple ownership options (including cash and credit financing) as well as usage-based VaaS offerings ranging from traditional multi-year leases to flexible subscription and rental services for new and used cars.
The service product portfolio is determined by the brand’s position and its target segments. VaaS models are particularly effective as conversion measures, especially for BEVs, and can be leveraged for customer loyalization. Moreover, VaaS offerings can support new market entries since they provide customers with a risk-free option to try out new brands.
Berylls is the right partner for:
Historically selling new cars was the key focus for OEMs. This traditional sales model is increasingly coming under pressure in a VaaS world. The vehicle use cycles have become too short to break: in the future, successful companies will keep vehicles in their fleets for a longer period of time and continue to monetize them with other customers in further use cycles (such as used car leasing or subscription).
This multi-cycle sales model will make vehicle condition critical as it will be essential to maintain a certain standard to keep the car suitable for as many offerings as possible. Efficient refurbishment operations to optimize vehicle condition will therefore become a strategic enabler.
By matching the right car to the right customer via the right VaaS or ownership product, providers can increase profitability and increase customer loyalty at the same time. But this requires a radical rethinking of governance and KPIs, from pure new car sales volumes to managing fleet utilization and return on assets.
Ultimately, OEMs must implement 4R strategies (Refurbish, Remanufacture, Reuse, and Recycle) to create a longer lifecycle for both vehicles and key components, such as EV batteries.
Berylls is the right partner for:
Traditional profit pools such as aftersales will remain cash cows but with shrinking volumes due to electrification. Full-service VaaS models with guaranteed uptime will accelerate the trend and fuel the transformation of aftersales from a profit to a cost center.
Beyond the vehicle and parts business, providers need to find further profit pools in value-added services. One option is to increase the penetration rates of existing services (such as insurance) through all use cycles. Another option is to identify new services areas, such as home charging or digital services.
Providers will need to master customer and vehicle data to cross-sell and up-sell personalized offers.
Berylls is the right partner for:
This international market research company operates in more than 40 countries offering customized research programs. The focus is on consumers and their motives for making their market choices. Personal support, engagement, flexibility and expertise ensure solutions are highly tailored.
We show that Future Sales 3.0 is more than a buzzword.
Check out our latest insights for inspiring thought leadership on relevant issues shaping sales strategies of the future.
The WTCAR covers the 100 most relevant and promising listed companies worldwide.
Join us
But Different: two simple words that have the potential to change everything – from the way we stand out to how we tackle challenges and opportunities. With But Different we break free of old routines and fixed habits.
