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The three-pointed star may traditionally have been regarded as an elitist symbol for retail buyers, but Mercedes-Benz is set to change that with an assault on the corporate market. Steve Moody reported in November’s FleetNews.
While BMW and Audi have courted fleets for a number of years, and made significant gains as a result, Mercedes-Benz has always remained rather aloof. It’s an attitude that some critics in the industry have called plain old snobbery – that a cash-rich retail customer is more desirable than a volume-based fleet buyer.
It’s a simplistic notion, and certainly a mindset that nobody at the firm would admit used to exist but, true or not, it is a perception that executives at Mercedes-Benz admit they have been working to change. And in the future they believe their action will prove that corporate business is very much a priority.
Simon Oldfield, sales director, Mercedes Car Group, predicts that fleets will start to see the shift in approach soon, thanks to new, UK specific models and the fact they have been talking to more corporate customers about what they want.
He said: ‘We’ve really come to realise just how important the fleet market is. Our strength has traditionally been in retail sales, but the market has been shifting over the past 18 months.
‘We have been finding out what fleets think of us, what we do well and what could be better.
‘We’ve got a really young range and are starting to get more UK-specific cars; like the C-class Sport Edition. We’re the third biggest market in the world and it means that we are getting more clout on getting specification for cars that really suit the UK market, and in particular, the corporate buyer.’
National Corporate Sales Manager Colin Niklas agrees: ‘We have to invest in corporate business. Two to three years ago, 25-33% of total sales were corporate and the rest retail; this year we are aiming at 50%.
Niklas believes that Mercedes-Benz can increase its share by 2% in the next year in the sub 100 sector. To do that, he needs more people talking to more smaller fleets, securing more business. So it is recruiting 10 local business managers, reporting to the existing five corporate sales managers. It is also taking on a strategic account manager for very large fleets.
Mercedes-Benz is putting money – and people – where its mouth is. Oldfield and Niklas believe the raw materials, the cars, are already in place.
The vast majority of Mercedes-Benz’s corporate business goes through its retail network and Niklas says they are working on getting the retailers better margins for fleet business to incentivise them in the corporate market.
He said: ‘Our whole strategy is a complete change of approach. We have incentivised retailers with a corporate sales programme, with the winner going to Dubai for a week. It illustrates just how seriously Mercedes-Benz is now taking the corporate market.
Extracted from ‘Mercs for the masses’ advertorial 2005 FLEET NEWS - November 17
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