学习苹果，宝马扩容“天才吧”

    为了保住全球头号豪华汽车制造商的宝座，德国宝马公司（BMW）正重新设计其经销商的运作方式，将增设更多“天才”产品专家，同时减少销售人员。

    这是一种更柔和、更轻松的服务理念，因苹果（Apple）而普及开来。在苹果门店中，有专门的产品专家向顾客解释苹果公司的笔记本电脑以及其它产品。顾客可以向训练有素的产品专家提问，而无需有议价的压力；一旦他们决定购买，将由销售人员接手。

    渴望有朝一日赶超宝马的雷克萨斯（Lexus），与苹果的思路大同小异。潘世奇汽车集团（Penske Motor Group）的格雷格•潘世奇，在加州艾尔蒙特市的Longo雷克萨斯店以及圣何塞的Stevens Creek雷克萨斯店雇佣“雷克萨斯专家”（“Lexperts”）已有近三年之久。

    潘世奇表示：“尽管借鉴了‘苹果天才’（Apple Genius）这一理念，但我们招募的大学生能了解汽车行业，看到自己可能的职业道路，而且还能开好车。他们的起薪也与‘苹果天才’非常接近。如今，所有厂商都在考虑这么干，因为随着技术日趋变成直观感受，我们希望确保顾客获得最佳的客户体验。”

    传统汽车零售，即客户握着报纸走进汽车展销店，然后要么被晾在一边，要么被强行推销的销售人员忽悠的销售模式，正迅速消亡，这一点已经不是什么秘密。大多数成功的零售商正采用新战术。互联网正在汽车零售中扮演日益重要的角色。消费者会花很多时间去研究[自己想买的车型]，他们往往对相关车型及其正常售价了如指掌。

    在美国，汽车经销商都是私有专营企业。因此，[产品]专家和“天才”是由经销商雇佣，虽然他们通常是由汽车制造商进行培训。

    宝马表示正在接近达成目标，即到今年年底，宝马339家美国经销商雇佣500名[产品]“天才”。一年前，宝马在该公司欧洲经销商中推出了这一理念。宝马表示，有些规模较大的经销商雇佣的[产品]专家多达10名；而且四分之一的[产品]专家是女性。

    宝马负责营销的董事伊恩•罗伯森表示：“汽车制造商正改变整个零售体验，而[产品]天才们是我们为顾客打造更有内容、更加友好的客户体验的第一线。”43个国家的宝马经销商，共雇佣了1500多名[产品]“天才”。其中有一名是在中国西藏。

    本月，宝马“天才”们在慕尼黑聚首，罗伯森在会后表示：“他们很兴奋，他们喜欢这个新角色，而且他们尤其高兴的是，顾客非常喜欢这种能获取信息，且没有购物压力的氛围。”

    汽车零售业未来的新篇章已经展开，有些汽车品牌的顾客，足不出户就能查看特定经销商的库存、下订单并安排融资。美国最大的公营连锁汽车经销商AutoNation称，该公司将于今年12月推出在线系统，使买家能从经销商库存中选择并预订车辆。

    也许是预见到未来的发展趋势，宝马已开始在线上提供“天才”服务。（财富中文网）

    译者：Hunter

    审稿：李翔

    To help stay on top as global No. 1 maker of luxury automobiles, Germany’s BMW is redesigning the way its dealerships operate, a process that will include more “genius” product specialists and fewer sales personnel.

    The concept, popularized by Apple AAPL 1.19% with in-store specialists who explain the company’s laptops and other products, is a softer and more relaxed approach. Shoppers can pose questions to a trained expert without the pressure of price negotiation; once they’re ready to buy, a sales person takes over.

    Lexus, which has ambitions to catch BMW one day, is thinking in the same direction. Greg Penske of Penske Motor Group has been employing “Lexperts” at Longo Lexus in El Monte, Calif., and Lexus of Stevens Creek in San Jose, Calif., for about three years.

    “Even though it’s derived from the Apple Genius concept, we have been able to recruit college students who can learn about the business, see the career paths they can take—it’s a very similar income as an Apple Genius starting out—and drive cool cars,” Penske said. “You are seeing all manufacturers looking at doing this because as technology is getting more intuitive, we want to make sure customers get the best guest experience.”

    It’s not exactly a secret that conventional automotive retailing, in which customers visit showrooms clutching the Sunday newspaper and either are ignored or fast-talked by high-pressure sales people is vanishing quickly. Most successful retail operations are employing new tactics. The Internet is playing a bigger and bigger role in automotive retailing. Shoppers spend hours doing research and often are extremely knowledgeable about the vehicle and the price at which it should sell.

    Dealers in the U.S. are privately-owned franchises. Experts and geniuses, therefore, are employed by the dealers, though often trained by the automaker.

    BMW said it’s closing in on a goal of having 500 geniuses employed at 339 U.S. dealerships by the end of the year. The idea was rolled out at BMW dealerships in Europe a year earlier. Some of the larger dealerships employ as many as ten; and a quarter of the personnel are women, BMW said.

    Ian Robertson, BMW board member for marketing, said, “the automaker is changing the entire retail experience, and the geniuses are the front line to make it more informative and friendly for our customers.” More than 1,500 are working in dealerships in 43 countries, including one in Tibet.

    Following a meeting of geniuses in Munich this month, Robertson said, “they’re excited, they like the new role, and they especially like seeing how much customers enjoy an atmosphere of information and no sales pressure.”

    The next chapter in the future of automotive retailing already in unfolding, allowing customers for some car brands to examine the inventories of vehicles at specific dealerships, place an order and arrange financing – without a visit. AutoNation, the biggest publicly-owned chain of dealerships in the U.S., said it would unveil in December an online system that will allow buyers to select and reserve vehicles from dealer inventory.

    BMW, perhaps anticipating the future, is making its geniuses available online as well.