Michael Winkler

EXPERIENCED global car industry executive, Michael Winkler, who has just stepped down from his position as president and CEO of Bentley Motors Inc in the United States, believes Australian automotive retailers should recognise that they are just as good – if not better – than their American counterparts.

In Melbourne last week on a short visit before resettling in Australia in September, Mr Winkler has spent the past two years overseeing Bentley’s operations in North and South America – the luxury British brand’s single biggest market – and its 53 dealers, having previously served as managing director of Jaguar Land Rover Australia and, for some 18 years, Porsche Cars Australia.

Earlier in his career, Mr Winkler also spent a dozen years with Porsche in North America, so has a unique insight into the two highly competitive markets – the US and Australia – that has brought him to the conclusion that automotive retailers here have a level of sophistication in terms of business practices that often goes unrecognised.

In explaining the differences between the two markets, Mr Winkler, who is now looking to take on a new challenge in the automotive industry, said: “The old saying about ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’ is probably the best way I can summarise it”.

“Sure, things have become much more sophisticated (in the US) but I’ve got to say, in comparison to how we do business here in Australia, and how competitive the automotive business is here and the things you have to do to be successful in the business here particularly from a retailer’s perspective, I’ve got to say is that there’s actually nothing that the professionals in our business here in Australia have to hide themselves from.

“If anything, the business has remained a bit more basic in the US.

“From a retailing perspective – and it’s just due to the sheer number of people and the size of the market – it is still very much along the lines of: that the role of the salesman is to close the deal once the customer walks onto the lot.

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“I’m going to paint it black and white a little bit unfairly just to make my point, but that’s still very much how business is done over there, whereas the level of sophistication that more Australian retailers have – regardless of what brand and what side of the business they are on – the levels of engagement with the (prospective) customer, the levels of engagement with existing customers, the level of marketing that’s being done to retain customers in place, the way CRM systems are being used and so on, is as sophisticated here in Australia – and in some cases more sophisticated – than what they do in the US.”

Mr Winkler said he wasn’t “totally surprised” by how advanced the business practices in Australia were compared to the US, “but it was interesting to see that reaffirmed”.

“And particularly in light of the fact of how many retailers from Australia tend to make the annual trek over to the NADA conventions to try and learn things,” he said.

“One often has the impression that the market there is somehow they are doing magical things that the rest of us don’t know how to do, and I’ve just got to say that’s a bit of a myth.”

Mr Winkler said the sheer size of the US market meant that American dealers not only benefit from the larger population translating into vehicle sales, but that it attracted companies developing innovative business tools – often internet-based – that helps them improve communication with customers.

“The one thing that the Americans do have on us, due to the size of the market, is they have an unbelievably wide variety of vendors with interesting internet solutions, everything from managing their customers to plate recognition systems,” he said.

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“As you drive across the service entrance, for instance, in your car, so between the time that you’ve turned in from the street to when you parked your car and walked in, the service adviser already has all your records up on the screen and (personally) greets you.

“Things like that, I think are quite fascinating – they can offer that over there because the market is so much bigger … and I guess vendors have a business case for doing those sorts of things.”

Mr Winkler said the numberplate recognition system handed dealers a “surprise element that can make the difference compared to the guy down the street” but added that sophistication often came down to a dealership’s culture and the attitude of staff, something he had seen develop in Australia over many years.

“You don’t necessarily need new technology – it’s more an attitude thing, really – and certainly, when I first came to the market here in 1995, we had salesmen in our own operations who were doing things with a roller deck in a very sophisticated manner,” he said.

“It was part of the ingrained culture in a very competitive environment here. One tends to look across the ‘pond’ (to the US) in awe and think what do those guys supposedly know that we don’t?

“And I’ve got to say that, if anything, there’s really nothing that from a local industry perspective we need to be ashamed of what we’re doing.”

By Terry Martin