Unfortunately, the car sales side of the business is characterised by high staff
turnover, even at senior levels, so the person who understood most about the
Catalyst programme often disappeared, leaving colleagues floundering.Evaluation
The campaign reflected the general increase in direct marketing, which had
grown in the recession of the early ‘90s, in this and other markets. In many
ways the Catalyst programme was successful. It overcame the drawbacks
associated with earlier attempts at direct marketing. It was proactive and
highly focused. It certainly achieved results but, if dealers did not always
complete their part of the process, the full extent of these could not be cal-
culated with accuracy. It also relied upon prospects updating information,
to identify the purchase window opportunity.
Notwithstanding the apparent signs of success, the Catalyst programme
accounted for something in the order of 20 per cent of the total marketing
budget. In the hard-nosed, recessionary climate of 1990 some penetrating
questions were asked. Concrete proof was sought that the Catalyst pro-
gramme worked and provided good value for money.
Although cost pressures had a part to play, with management constantly
seeking greater value from the marketing budget, there was also pressure
to change to a new programme from within the direct marketing depart-
ment at Rover. The reasons for the change were:
1 Recognition that customers and prospects are different and should be treated
as such. Customers had an ongoing relationship and were interested in new
information about the Company and its products. Prospects had a different
level of knowledge and commitment to Rover and needed to be prompted into
a relationship with the Company.
2 Need for a process that would work in August (a process that would help
dealers to sell cars at even their busiest times, rather than be perceived as a
hindrance).
3 Need to ‘conquest’ new business from competitors, capturing customers with
a different profile from those on the existing database. This stimulated addi-
tional market research to establish the lifestyle and buying habits of these new
target segments.The new product positioning strategy was to appeal to a more
up-market, affluent, younger group of customers than before.While this did not
necessarily invalidate the existing database, it certainly generated pressure to
expand it.
4 Need to improve the perceived standard of leads passed to dealers, thus ensur-
ing their commitment to the programme. Dealers complained that contacts
provided through the Catalyst programme were often not ready to purchase.
5 Rover had developed a more sophisticated and competitive product range than
when the Catalyst programme began. This could be marketed with greater
assurance.
The customer market domain: Managing relationships with buyers 103