MITSUBISHI has restructured its fleet sales team to take advantage of the opportunities presented by leasing brokers.
Fleet Sales Manager, Clive Messenger, says it has moved to a regional structure where sales have responsibility for all channels: leasing companies, leasing brokers and corporates.
“It means we can work more strategically with brokers,” said Clive.
Clive says the change in structure has arisen since mainstream company car providers have started to offer PHEV offerings in the corporate sector.
“I‘ve been running the corporate department for 10 years. When I first arrived we had 3500 vehicles going through brokers and most of these were pick-up trucks. With the arrival of Outlander PHEV it gave us an in-road into the corporate sector,” explains Clive
“It meant we had to change the structure and invest in people. So we grew from three to seven in the fleet department with a view to building relationships in corporate.”
Since then, it’s been time to review Mitsubishi’s corporate structure once more says Clive as Mitsubishi’s unique PHEV proposition has been eroded with “traditional company car providers coming into the market in that area”.
Clive points out that the new Eclipse Cross has been well received but with its high CO2 emissions – it’s petrol only – it doesn’t make such a convincing car.
“If you look at our three core models – L200, Outlander PHEV and Eclipse Cross – where can we make a difference? Mainly in SME sector I believe. Whether it’s a small business or cash allowance driver. It’s a sector growing steadily but quickly.”
Wider relationship with brokers
Mitsubishi will continue to work strategically with leasing companies and the larger leasing brokers it has traditionally supported.
But, says Clive, “there are ways where we can influence the volume of Mitsubishis going through based on relationships.
“We have a definite objective to spend with more organsiations to penetrate the market. It’s a key part of our strategy.
“We are moving from a relationship with the big boys of the broker world to a relationship with a wide range of brokers.
“We can look at the opportunity and the plans to make it happen. How do we make 50 units happen a year with this broker? Good thing there is a a desire from brokers for this to happen.”
Clive says the Mitsubishi broker strategy now embraces some 50 brokers, which is more than double the volume of brokers with which the company engaged previously.
“The thing about these brokers is that it’s not substitutional sales. We are expanding our sales base which is giving us incremental volume.”
Clive says there are no defined limits on the volume of brokers with which Mitsubishi will engage. It’s more a case of growing organically, he says.
“We will grow our portfolio of partners to expand our opportunities.”
