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‘Ashibayai’, ‘Hakabakashii’, ‘Hakabakashii’ and ‘Hayai’… these Japanese words eloquently describe the quickening pace Maruti Udyog Ltd.’s (MUL’s) new brand launch — the all-new avatar of Suzuki’s Swift — as well as its high-profile launch (May 2005) marketing strategy. The ‘objet d’amour’, which is billed as the first truly global car by the Japanese manufacturer (and its Indian collaboration), will be launched with a pioneering marketing initiative that has never been attempted in the history of the Indian automobile industry.
In a truly pioneering effort, MUL will groom and train a special and dedicated national sales force of ...hold your breath… 1,000 ‘Human Energisers’ across the country to sell the compact car, Swift, positioned as Suzuki’s first ‘world’ car designed after keeping the European taste in mind. MUL’s Corporate Commun-ications spokesperson admits that this is a first for the company, which has 4,000 plus sales people.
The Swift Human Energisers are being trained in selling skills, behaviour and etiquette and the finer aspects of Swift design and styling. They will eventually get attached to Maruti dealerships across India. In fact, they will don the role of ‘Lifetime Advisors’ who will remain in touch with prospective and converted customers in the future. They will also take care of ancillary activities such as insurance and even re-sale of Swift at a later date,” proclaims the MUL spokesperson.
Reasons for ‘energising’ the Swift team
The concept evolved from the fact that MUL wanted an exclusive sales team to focus on Swift rather than 11 other models in the portfolio. “We see a lot of potential in the emerging ‘Premium A2’ segment in India. The existing models such as Hyundai’s Getz, Fiat’s Palio, Opel’s Sail and Ford’s Fusion have not really managed to make their mark in this segment. But, we shall make sure that Swift does,” the spokesperson vehemently claims.
While in Japan, Swift has quickly gone up the sales charts to become one of the 20 top selling models, MUL is keen that Swift single-handedly exceeds the 8,000 odd numbers that all the other aspiring models in the segment currently sell every year. On an average price of Rs 450,000 to Rs 500,000 per car sold, it works out to minimum revenues of Rs 3 billion p. a. — which surely justifies the investment on training and grooming the Human Energisers.
To read the entire story, grab your copy of Impact Advertising and Weekly magazine issue dated May 2-8, 2005