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Start-up guide
Page 79
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Our man on the inside says giving the right deal to start-up buyers can make sound business sense...
0 ffering buying tips to new customers is always tricky. You have to be patient and glean enough information from them on what they want without sounding as though you are being condescending, indifferent or overbearing.
It's a fine line, and it's all too easy to put off fresh customers coming through the gates as they could have any agenda. You can soon spot time wasters— a lax attitude, the wrong questions, no 0-licence or a Lack of information are all giveaways.
lithe customer has a set budget then you know they are more likely to be the real thing. You might not be able to help them, but at least you can point them in the right direction as you know they mean business.
Even if some have unrealistic aims you can help yourself and potentially other dealers by putting them on the straight and narrow. We provide a link to the Daf website, which contains cost tables, even though we aren't an approved franchise.
This can be used as a pointer, giving the buyer some idea of running costs, because variables will be the biggest thing that will eat into a start-up budget —not the deposit for a truck or the monthly payments.
We offer finance packages that can help ease the figures and perhaps get things started over a longer deal to reduce initial costs. Potential start-ups always look at deals where they incur no cost to give things back, such as rental deals or short-term leases that can really cost them dear.
Early dangers
If your start-up cash gets hit by deposits and large monthly payments before payments start returning then you can fall before you even get out of the chair. It means more responsibility and more cost if things do go pearshaped and bad debt isn't good, but you do increase your chances of succeeding.
If I can give one piece of advice to owner-driver start-ups then it's the obvious: go into it looking to succeed. Sure, be aware of the pitfalls and costs, and what money is outstanding, but don't let it compromise your plan, otherwise you'll always wish you'd been more positive. •