Bridging the knowledge gap: educating your sales team on EVs

With the big March plate-change coming up, franchised retailers are gearing up to meet their sales targets – not just for the month, but for all Q1. A big part of the Q1 strategy? Boosting electric vehicle (EV) sales.

Looking back at EV sales in 2024, there are plenty of insights to shape this approach. We know that sales were powered by corporate fleet and leasing, accounting for almost 20% of all registrations, up by a fifth, but still falling short of the ZEV mandate target of 22% with retailers accounting for just one in 10 EV sales.

With this year’s target raised to 28%, retailers will undoubtedly be facing the challenge of how to double their EV sales in a retail market where consumers are still nervous about making the transition.

How to stimulate EV sales?

OEM incentives played a pivotal role in powering 2024’s EV market, and this year’s access to surplus stock will continue to determine just how aggressive quarterly programmes are set, especially around maximising registrations by the end of March. While such programmes can stimulate demand and boost registrations, they are not sustainable. Smarter longer-term thinking is needed to build a more natural demand for new EVs.

My thought is that can only start with greater education. OEMs and retailers need to show a clearer understanding of the challenges faced by consumers, many of whom will be buying an EV for the first time.

This is where a more consultative approach could be beneficial. Salespeople need to be encouraged to take the time to understand the day-to-day motoring requirements of the individual customer they are talking to. The qualification conversations should not only focus on the potential buyer’s stage in the purchase process, but they can also ascertain their knowledge level of EVs in general. Some example conversation starters – will they have access to home charging, what is driving them to consider an EV or what are their typical journeys. By qualifying the customer, they can then provide tailored information about the vehicle and EVs ownership.

Retailers are ideally placed to position themselves as EV experts and many do this brilliantly. The best performers have identified the knowledge gap and invested in staff training to deliver a more consultative approach whilst ensuring their teams understand the different models and packages available. Sales teams can then direct the buyer to the best option for their specific need and answer all their questions with confidence.

The ZEV mandate is here to stay! Could this provide an opportunity for retailers to get the basics right and ensure a more consistent and empathetic approach to EV sales? Whilst it is often seen as a challenge to meet the requirements it also presents an opportunity for retailers to stand out through a customer-centric, educational approach.

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Innovating for the future: insights from 2024 and 2025 direction

2024 has been a year like no other for the automotive sector.

It was the first full year of the government’s ZEV Mandate (Zero Emission Vehicle), with retailers adapting to legislative changes aimed at driving sales of new battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

And the year when discretionary commission arrangements, or DCAs, came to the fore following the Court of Appeal’s ruling that car retailers must disclose commissions on finance sales.

Added to the mix was the new government’s Autumn Budget and its financial implications for retailers as employers.

The collective impact of these factors are still being played out. In the meantime, retailers drew upon their resilience to adapt and capitalise on the opportunities these new developments have brought.

2024 vehicle sales

Positively, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) forecasts 2024’s new car registrations will close at 1.94 million units, a 2.1% improvement on 2023.

It expects BEV sales to rise 15.4% year-on-year to take a 18.5% market share, driven by fleet registrations but still short of the ZEV mandate target of 22%. While diesel and petrol are expected to fall by 13.9% and 3.9% respectively.

Turning to the used car market, the SMMT’s most recent data encouragingly showed transactions increased every month from January to September, resulting in 5.89 million sales, up 6% year-on-year.

Our Dealerweb Showroom data reflects these positive trends with a year-on-year 8% increase of enquiries and orders, however average total order values are showing a year-on-year decline.

Driving progress: 2024 highlights

Throughout the year we have been focused on developing the right digital tools for retailers to efficiently engage with customers, build retention and drive profitability.

Here are some of our standout figures from 2024:

• 28 million vehicle images processed online through CitNOW Imaging  
• 2.8 million chat engagements conducted with 690,000 new contacts using CitNOW Conversations
• 13.1m CitNOW Sales and CitNOW Workshop personalised videos created
• Increased enquiry conversions by 12% through video responses
• Created almost 36.5k vehicle appraisals for simple and easy part exchange
• Received over 6k customer triage submissions for pre-diagnostic vehicle assessment
• 2.3 million enquiries captured and processed through Dealerweb Showroom of which 31% have converted to orders
• 3.7 million eVHCs created through RTC Aftersales, with 1.7 billion items of repair work identified.

Innovating automotive technology

Once again, this year we made a major commitment to invest in the latest technology to meet the evolving needs of our customers, which saw a significant expansion of the CitNOW range of products and services.

These are just some of our 2024 technical innovations:

• AutoReel (part of CitNOW Imaging) – captivating and dynamic video using a collection of AI quality-controlled images and combining them with existing vehicle data
• Enhanced iOS and Android Apps – CitNOW Sales, CitNOW Workshop and CitNOW Imaging apps – all-new interfaces and features, five times faster and with enhanced performance
• Equicalc – new equity parity calculator feature in Dealerweb Showroom enabling retailers to maximise all potential revenue from the vast data stored in Dealerweb
• RTC Cloud based Solution – gives customers the flexibility to use a cloud-based server rather than hardware.

Greater CitNOW Group integration

We also delivered key integrations between the CitNOW Group range of products to deliver the tools necessary to enhance the customer experience at every stage of their journey.

• CitNOW Sales and CitNOW Appraise – Digital vehicle valuation straight from your website and your CitNOW Sales video presentation page
• Dealerweb Showroom and CitNOW Appraise – Digital vehicle valuations and part exchanges straight from a Dealerweb Showroom customer record
• RTC Aftersales and CitNOW Triage – A simple and seamless integration creating one single workflow to allow customers to easily capture and highlight vehicle concerns before arriving at workshops
• Dealerweb Showroom + CitNOW Insights – Evaluation of stock inventory from Dealerweb Showroom enabling stock managers to develop effective pricing strategies.

The vision for 2025

So, what are the likely sales trends for 2025?

The SMMT forecasts further growth for new car registrations, up 1.8% to 1.97 million, with BEV market share projected to rise to 23.4% while, Cox Automotive is forecasting 7.4 million used car sales for 2024, rising just 0.3% to 7.45 million in 2025.

We know next year is likely to be another challenging one for the sector, especially as EV sales targets are increased under the ZEV Mandate rules. Customers, with an eye on the wider economy, will be increasingly focused on value for money. Whilst we don’t have a crystal ball to predict the future, what is certain is that retailers with right processes and tools in place to deliver outstanding customer experiences will achieve the best possible outcomes.

CitNOW Group’s mission is to continue to provide retailers with the solutions to create positive and memorable customer experiences. That is why we are working on enhancing our solutions with innovative tech and AI-powered features to deliver a true omni-channel experience from online to offline across vehicle sales and aftersales.

We look forward to sharing more details soon.

Until then we wish you Season’s Greetings and Happy New Year.