97 Brands Fighting for The UK Next Year. What Should Dealers Be Talking About?

Selling In the Motor Trade is closing in on 300 episodes, and Simon Bowkett wanted to mark it properly. That means a thank you to everyone who has listened since the early lockdown episodes, and a question back to you about where the show goes next. Along the way he shares the numbers that put the milestone in perspective, including the fact that only 6% of podcasts ever reach 100 episodes and fewer than 1% get to 300. He looks back at the guests who have made the biggest impression, from US sales trainers to dealer group leaders here in the UK, and he is honest about how the topics have moved on. Agency has faded. Chinese brands, a crowded franchise market and replacing oil revenue have taken its place. Then he opens the floor to the audience. • The story behind the show and why it started in the first lockdown • Podcast statistics that put 300 episodes into perspective • The guests who have stuck with listeners, from US trainers to UK dealer group leaders • How the trade's biggest questions have shifted since 2020 • Chinese brands and a UK market with around 97 badges competing next year • Replacing oil revenue as service departments look further ahead • Why competitor trainers are welcome on the show, and the rising tide argument behind it • How to suggest a guest, a returning guest or a subject, and what you get for it Simon Bowkett, or Skippy to plenty in the trade, is the founder of Symco Training and the author of Words That Sell Cars. He has hosted this podcast since the first lockdown, interviewing sales trainers, dealer principals and industry leaders from the UK, the US and Australia. This episode is a solo, and it is as much a thank you as it is a plan for the next 300. Worth a listen if you follow the show, then send Simon a message on LinkedIn with the name you want to hear on it next. About Symco Training: Symco Training was founded in 2000 by Simon Bowkett and it was his belief that the business had to offer its clients something different. That difference was clear to Simon from his days in the dealership when he experienced many sales trainers who had all the answers, but were unable, unwilling or both to actually show the delegate how they could be implemented. It remains the ethos of the business today. You see, Symco only employ trainers that are committed to delivering not only in spiring and insightful training, but are equally as happy to demonstrate these skills and techniques with real customers in your own showroom. We believe in order for sales training to be effective and in Simon's words 'real world', it needs to be tried and tested in the only place it matters the showroom floor. There is no room for theory when your goals are for your team to sell more cars, hours or parts and retain more profit. In dealerships around the world the focus applied by many of the sales executives is to try and sell a deal. Symco specialise in getting your teams to focus on selling themselves, the product and then supporting this with the deal. To find out more visit: www.symcotraining.co.uk