Volvo - The Hub

Volvo Cars UK Limited identified a sales need to promote SE LUX & Executive level vehicles within their network. They found that typically a sales person would focus on the base entry model & fewer than 50% of Sales Executives were selling accessories. Their objectives were:

• Increase sales by 25% of their higher end derivatives passenger cars.
• Increase sales of dealer fit accessories.

The Programme

P&MM created ‘The Hub’ - an umbrella brand that provided a central focus & stretched across both sales & after sales. The Hub was a Volvo branded bespoke website that allowed participants to claim, track & redeem their reward online.

The simplicity of the solution was embraced eagerly by the sales network - sell a car, add some specific accessories or upsell to a higher specification model that included the same accessories but was less expensive than adding them to a lower specification vehicle.

Accessory Sales - ‘Accessories Extra’

Accessory sales were branded ‘Accessories extra’ & managed by The Hub website on a claim by claim basis. Open to both sales persons & their dealer after sales colleagues, sales were logged through The Hub website & stored ready for validation. This was updated fortnightly, earning each participant for every validated accessory sale.

Vehicle Sales - The Golden Apple

Apple products formed the basis of many rewards, illustrating the value of the reward & encouraging further sales. The vehicle sales element was branded the ‘Golden Apple’ where participants were offered a reward for the sale of SE Lux or Executive models. Each car sold represented a different Apple

product available, escalating in price, with the pinnacle being a weekend away for 2 people to ‘the Big Apple’ - New York. Sales were tracked & validated by Volvo & a regular file submission allowed the personal sales records to be updated.

All Encompassing Rewards

In an unusual move, EVERYONE could potentially receive the top reward of a weekend away to the Big Apple with their partner, rather than capping it for a core group of high achievers. Volvo offered the award to all participants on an individual basis, & all they had to do was hit the pre-determined number of SE Lux &/or Executive car threshold to win. This keeps the programme simple, easy to understand & accessible to everyone, ensuring as much ‘buy in’ & participation as possible.

Results

On average over 80% of participants logged into ‘The Hub’ website every single month. Volvo set P&MM the target to increase the sales of SE Lux & Executive cars by 25%. By Q4, the programme had helped to achieve over 34% - that’s over DOUBLE the previous years sales increase of 17%. The full year achieved a 27% increase, exceeding the target set by Volvo.

To put this into perspective, with ‘The Hub’ incentive there was a 35% increase in SE Lux & Executive sales from 2009 to 2010. The C30 range has witnessed a 50% penetration; where in 2009 sales were at just 6%, & this has since risen to 15% for the year.

Accessory sales have also seen a huge leap, in 2009 less than 50% of the sales executives had sold accessories, while in 2010 82.5% of sales executives actively sold these products.

“The recent The Hub incentive run by Volvo Cars UK proved to be highly motivational. We found that the site formed part of our weekly sales meetings & really got the team spirit going within our sales teams. We actively up-sold clients in a constructive manner to higher specification models improving margin for manufacturer & dealer alike. Such incentive programmes are vital in a difficult market.”

Volvo Sales Executive