Hi Bill,
I worked for Toyota Australia
My roles progressed as such:
New Car Detailer
New Car Delivery Co-ordinator
Service Advisor.
I loved the 'Toyota Way' and our weekly 'Kaizen' meetings.
Toyota develops a fantastic culture for all its staff to work within.
Sadly, in our situation the Company that provided the ridiculous lifetime warranties on their products also gave large kickbacks to the Company Directors for their loyalty. Being an Australia wide entity meant that equated to big $$.
look up CMV Australia
I've no doubt, that if your New Car Manager has an open line of communication with the Branch Director then you could certainly plant a seed for the future.
IMO a good short term solution would be to apply all 'aftermarket' detailing supplies in house.
I'm not sure about where you work, but generally the in house detailers would wash and clay the vehicles anyway prior to after market collection.
I'm sure you'd agree that when selling on the fly its easier to get your own staff to do something if your in a bit of a pinch rather than have to give 24 hours to an outside source to come & collect, apply polishes etc then return.
Then the detailer generally went over the work anyway before bringing the car to the showroom for delivery. (too much double handling)
I shared an office with our after market sales staff.
Some of the BS they would tell prospective clients over the phone amazed me.
Anything from .. "you won't have to clean your car as often" to "This product helps stop dents".
It certainly is a lucrative market, but i think you would go a long way to earning customer respect by doing what you are doing here ... and that is to educate yourself (and hopefully your customers) what these products can do and how they really work. This trust will also flow through to the service area which will result in greater long term customer retention for your branch. I'm sure your managers will like that
Best of luck & welcome to AGO :dblthumb2:
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