15 July 2013

One of the many nice things about this job is that you’re always getting the chance to learn something new. Last week’s webinar, in association with our commercial partners at MSXi, was a case in point.

In the course of a couple of hours (rehearsals and the actual event) I learnt a bit about Total Loss Avoidance programmes and a bit more about webinars.
Let’s say at the outset that I’ve always been a bit wary of the webinar format. The first couple that I was involved in (admittedly a few years ago) suffered badly from poor broadband connections and dodgy sound.

More recently I’ve been delegate to a couple of webinar sessions and I got the distinct impression that I was the only one listening to what was being said. The lack of engagement from the audience was deafening in its silence.

But last week was completely different. We had 77 pre-registered delegates and 36 actual ‘attendees’ – I’m told a 50% drop-out rate is the norm because many people will watch the recorded version of the webinar online afterwards. We even had real questions, both during the webinar and immediately afterwards.

You won’t be surprised to hear it’s made me rethink my attitude towards webinars. It’s a format we will certainly be looking at for Auto Retail Network events in the future.

Equally interesting was the concept of a well run Total Loss Avoidance programme, where carmakers step in to support the repair of borderline accident write-offs. Properly managed they can help fill your workshops, boost parts and labour sales and, most important of all, keep the customer feeling good about the brand, just when they need it most. But not all carmakers run a programme and many that do are rather half-hearted about it.

The purpose of the webinar was to raise awareness among retailers and create demand. So, if your carmaker partner doesn’t have Total Loss Avoidance, or doesn’t seem to care about it, I suggest you start nagging away at them now.

Rupert Saunders

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Tags: insurance write-offs, MSXi, total loss avoidance, webinars