More than 100 motor finance experts from across the UK got together for their annual conference with a focus on the future.

The employees from Close Motor Finance branches spanning from Southampton to Scotland met in Northampton for the annual Sales Conference where the current state of the UK car sales market was reviewed and their plans for the next few years unveiled.

These conferences give us a real opportunity to look at the industry we work in, the state of the market and where we fit, Janet Wilson, Managing Director of Close Motor Finance, based in their Doncaster Headquarters said.

Gathering together our branch managers and sales team is vitally important so that everyone is aware of where we are coming from as a company and the opportunities that exist to help us reach our targets, Janet Wilson added.

The main focus of the conference was Close’s ‘Ask for Finance’ campaign, which has recently been launched across dealerships.

The campaign focuses on the simple premise that Close Motor Finance representatives should be asking the dealers to ask customers about finance. The dealers should be asking about finance as standard and the customers should, by seeing the marketing materials around the dealerships, feel confident enough to ask the dealer about finance .

Janet said, It is a simple message that we are hammering home . Industry statistics have shown that not enough customers are being asked about finance when buying a car . By making simple changes in the way we conduct our business we can make a real difference to the bottom line.

The used car market in the UK hit a six year high last year and Close wants to maximise on this by working to build stronger relationships with dealers to ensure that the right deal is done for the customer. By improving the way they work with dealers Close are hoping to make the most of point of sales finance .

We need to work with our existing dealers and develop relationships with new dealers that help them to make deals easier, James Broadhead, Sales and Operations Director said.

Our relationships with our dealers are the key to our success so we intend to work more closely with them to ensure they have everything they need to create the right deal for the customer and for their dealership, James added.

Our Account Managers have been tasked with building on existing dealer relationships and developing new ones with point of sales materials being available for all and the ‘Ask for Finance’ initiative being at the top of the agenda, he added.

Investing in technology is also going to play a big part in our success over the coming months. We need to develop our offer to make asking for finance an easier option for the dealer and the customer, James said.

We are a forward thinking company with plenty of ideas and inspiration to keep up with the ever evolving market. Our annual conference was a great success with a lot of inspirational ideas and support coming from our sales team. We are now geared up for a very exciting time as a company, James added.