Even the rich and famous want to buy cars on the never never.. The boss of prestige dealer TOP555 tells Richard Yarrow how to sell to millionaires. Man walks into a car dealership and inquires about buying a Ferrari 512M. He doesn’t ask too many questions, just says he wants one ‘for his collection’. Then he spots a Ferrari 360 Spider F1 and says he’ll take that too. And he’ll have the Aston Martin V8 Vantage Le Mans V600, but only if it can be converted to automatic transmission. It can.
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Total cost: around £500,000, including an eye-watering £20k for work on the gearbox. Despite sounding like the opening line of a bad stand-up routine this is no tall tale. Welcome to the world of buying and selling supercars...
From the dealer’s perspective, the basic principle is the same as if it was an £8k supermini – it’s all about a customer looking for a new car. It’s just that they could easily be paying six figures for the vehicle, and the monthly finance payments will be more than many people earn in the same period.
But according to Charles Freimuth, sales director of the TOP 555 showroom where the half-million pound deal went down, just being professional and courteous isn’t enough. ‘One of the key elements is that we retain a very personal touch with our clients,’ he explains. ‘From the initial phone call or walk-in, a customer is dealt with very professionally by staff with a great knowledge of the product. And generally they will be dealing with a director of the business, not just a salesman that might be gone in three months.’
Freimuth said that because the firm doesn’t just sell one car brand – the website www.top555.co.uk lists cars from Ferrari to Porsche, Lamborghini to Bentley – the sales team needs a vast product knowledge.
‘They have to be up to speed on everything and anything the customer might throw at them. It’s how the car works, spec, depreciation or running costs. But because of that they also get a very unbiased opinion as well,’ he explains.
‘If they say they’re not really sure what they want, but they’ve got £80k to spend, we’re not going to push them in one direction. That’s the advantage of not being a main dealer, and it’s a significant advantage.’ Many of the company’s customers are as clued up as the sales team on the finer points of a particular car. The cynic might argue that a clever sales person could still steer the client towards the model with the biggest margin, but Freimuth – pictured with a Gallardo, above right – insists that’s not the case.
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‘We’re looking to start a relationship with a client, and take it into the future. It’s not just one-off business. ‘And we want them to go away happy with what they’ve bought. These are emotive purchases, and you’ve got to make the buying experience an enjoyable one from the moment you take that first phone call to finalising the deal.
‘We want to see them and that car back, and we’ve been very successful in doing that. It’s not just selling a car; if people want a Ferrari they can go and get one from a number of places in the UK. It’s about selling the finance and also selling them on the idea of how easy the ownership experience can be.’ The finance issue is an interesting one, because Freimuth believes the packages his firm offers is part of the attraction for customers.‘There are obviously a lot of finance companies who would like to work with us, but we’re very selective about who we work with. We’re very loyal as a company, as the vast majority of our customers are loyal to us. ‘What a supplier has to offer has to be of the highest quality and they have to be able to back it up. |
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It’s not just about being the cheapest, but delivering what the customer wants within a timescale, to do it professionally and still give the client full control.’ Three-quarters of TOP 555’s customers will finance the sale, though it’s not generally because they’re struggling to make the monthly payments.
‘People who have got money will use it elsewhere, they’ve got better things to do with their capital. Because our customers change their cars quite frequently, we make it easy for them because we can create finance packages that help them do that with flexibility and control.’ The other quarter of clients will walk in and simply pay for the car in one go. Yes, you read that right. They’ll scribble a cheque or pay on plastic for £150,000 or more for a supercar. Just as finance is part of the supercarbuying process, another element of the traditional motor transaction also goes on. Despite the fact the customer might have more money than Richard Branson, there’s still time for a bit of to-and-fro negotiation. |
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