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trieb

SPECIALAugust 2012

www.kfz-betrieb.de

Prospects and Potentials Made in Germany

Since 1957, demanding car owners in Germany have used and trusted LIQUI MOLY. Our Company offers the highest quality motor oils and additives for both gasoline and diesel engines.Isn‘t it time YOU discover LIQUI MOLY?

Ausgabe 7/2012

Performance

made in Germany

Since 1957, demanding car owners in Germany have used and trusted LIQUI MOLY. Our Company offers the highest quality motor oils and additives for both gasoline and diesel engines.Isn‘t it time YOU discover LIQUI MOLY?

Ausgabe 7/2012

Performance

made in Germany

Special 2012 www.kfz-betrieb.de 3

Special

ContentA true stirrer 4

LIQUI MOLY takes on the big boys of its industry

Success by humanity 6Interview with Ernst Prost, CEO and owner of LIQUI MOLY

On the road to becoming the global market leader 8Export offers potential for future growth

Always a little better 9Gerhard Riedmüller, Head of Export Business on perspectives abroad

Everything under one lubricant roof 10LIQUI MOLY the full range provider

Wellness for the workshop 12LIQUI MOLY‘s thought-through components and tools

A strong troupe 14Interview with Günter Hiermaier, Head of National Sales

„LIQUI MOLY? That‘s okay!“ 16Kfz-Schertl: A perfect partner

LIQUI MOLY: the smart alternative 19Auto Tischler goes its own path

Black on white 201a-certificates for LIQUI-MOLY additives

The difference: neither small nor delicate 21Workshops have to observe oil releases increasingly often

Learning is not just for school! 22LIQUI MOLY offers many trainings for workshop employees

Come in, take part 23Workshops can actively contribute at LIQUI MOLY

Known all over town 24How operations can profit from a brand‘s popularity

We do what others can‘t 26Interview with Peter Baumann, Head of Marketing

Right in the middle 28LIQUI MOLY is present at many trade fairs

Let us introduce: „Sir“ LIQUI MOLY 29The first place in consumer surveys

An online shopping tour 30LIQUI MOLY supports workshops in self-marketing as well

Likable brand ambassadors 31Helping others to increase our brand popularity

The many faces of success 32The people behind LIQUI MOLY

Impressumkfz-betrieb

SPECIALDas »kfz-betrieb-Spezial« ist als Supplement dem Träger-Titel »kfz-betrieb« beigelegt.

David vs. GoliathThese days, where do we go first to book holidays, buy books or look for a car or partner? That‘s right – we go online. We Tweet, post and Skype; our world be-comes more and more „online“. Even the small car workshop around the corner has its own homepage now, and Jane Bloggs can register her car for a license all on her own on the World Wide Web.

The modern achievements of the fully networked computer era have their benefits. However, they also show us their down-sides. Man as a worker has be-come an expensive asset as compared to his colleagues Bit and Byte. More and more often, business life takes place elsewhere in spite of the prosperity we enjoy in this country. Many companies save staff here and focus on different markets. All the more pleasing is it to learn that some companies counter this trend. These companies don‘t just make ends meet „somehow“ – they prosper and expand continually. One of them is LIQUI MOLY.

The lubrication multitalent from Ulm proves every day that it is possi-ble to persevere as a David among many Goliaths, even in the tough competitive environment everyone from the industry is aware of. How? It‘s simple: the Ulm company counters common trends. It invests in workers as the most likely largest field service team in its industry. It offers its customers not only products, but also the required tools and aids. It does not „invent“ things and then figures out how to market them. Instead, it asks its customers, the car workshops, about their needs and provides the answers. In a nutshell: LIQUI MOLY does what others often merely talk about; they offer true added value.

This »kfz-betrieb« special issued a bundled overview of the comprehen-sive product and service offers of the medium-sized business while also providing an insight into the community that represents the lubricant and chemicals specialist‘s success far beyond the borders of Germany. In spite of all technology that is the basis for state-of-the-art concepts, man is at the focus here. As a reader here and as a customer at LIQUI MOLY, you are at the focus.

GeschäftsführungStefan Rühling (Vorsitz)Florian FischerErnst HaackGünter Schürger

RedaktionWolfgang Michel (Chefredakteur), Steffen Dominsky

Koordination und SchlussredaktionUte Jaxtheimer

Fotos:Liqui Moly, Steffen Dominsky

LayoutWerner Heimerl

HerstellungFranz Fenn

DruckVogel Druck und Medienservice GmbH, 97204 Höchberg

Erfüllungsort und GerichtsstandWürzburg

Anschrift von Verlag und RedaktionVogel Business Media GmbH & Co. KG Max-Planck-Str. 7/9, 97082 Würzburg Tel.: 0049-(0)931/4 18 - 24 17 Fax: 0049-(0)931/4 18 - 20 60 http://www.vogel.de

LeserserviceBirgit Rüdel/Ursula Zeiss, Tel.: 0049-(0)931/4 18 - 24 17 Fax: 0049-(0)931/4 18 - 20 60 E-Mail: [email protected]

[email protected]

Phot

o: A

rchi

ve

Wolfgang Michel, chief editor »kfz-betrieb«.

4 www.kfz-betrieb.de Special 2012

Past and Present

A True StirrerA small but sophisticated company successfully competes among the big boys of its industry

What do many known lubricant providers of the automotive industry have in common? That‘s right: Many of them are huge as well as very old com-panies. Most of them produced lots of oil from their founding, growing richer and more powerful over time. For their customers, they became in-creasingly slow-moving and anonymous at the same time. Customised action disappeared into oblivion.

Business with products specifically for motor vehicles, such as motor and gear oil and related products, have become no more than a nice extra for many of these companies. After all, the „Multi“ make their cash at the gas stations and airports of this world. As so often in life, this rule has a pleasant exception as well; one lubricant produc-er went down a different path and has remained on it ever since. For him, people are at the focus of all action, rather than stock values. For him, economic success is tantamount to social respon-sibility. His products are reactions to his customers‘ specific needs. His name is LIQUI MOLY.

The once-tiny company was founded around a product specifically developed for the automotive industry – and even more specifically for the en-gines. The operation founded in Ulm in 1957 held the patent for production of molybdenum sul-

phide, a crystalline mineral with a friction-reduc-ing effect. Inventive as the Swabian people are, they developed it into a motor oil additive that improves the lubrication properties of the oil and extends the engine‘s service life. It protects the engine even when no oil is present for lubrication anymore. Turning this ingenious invention and business idea into the company name was the most obvious idea at the time. „Liquid molybde-num sulphide“ became “LIQUI MOLY”.

The Additive Experts

The logical result from this is that LIQUI MOLY has been dealing with the development and pro-duction of oil additives for more than half a cen-tury. In the course of decades, the company has developed great competence and lots of know-how in this very sophisticated market segment. As a consequence, LIQUI MOLY is now by far the number one in oil and fuel additives. Many tests of independent institutes have also confirmed that their products keep their promises, in contrast to many competitor products. In particular car op-erations can profit from and with additives. They are highly welcome problem solvers and attractive customer commitment instruments in one.

For many years, the range comprised additives only. Towards the end of the 1970s, it was ex-panded to lubricants, first among them motor oils. Both number and bandwidth of the products in-creased continually. This development even picked up speed at the beginning of the new millennium. Today, car care products, workshop supplies and special service products are part of the LIQUI MOLY range as well as motor and gear oils and additives. More than 4,000 items in total are of-fered by the company. In spite of a stagnating or even reducing overall market, demand increased with the offer. It‘s hard to believe that from 1999

The brand logo across time

Logo until 1976 Logo until 1982 Logo until 2002 Current logo

kfz-betrieb Special

First advertising motif: Ad from 1956.


Special

to 2010, the team manager Ernst Prost was able to triple turnover! Even in 2009, the year of crisis, turnover and revenue remained stable against any market trend. This applied for the market shares as well. In 2011, LIQUI MOLY was able to climb to first place of the Gesells-chaft für Konsumforschung‘s Panelmarkt “KFZ Chemie”, displacing long-term market leader Castrol from the lubricant throne. The survey of January to October 2011 comprises car ac-cessory trade, DIY shops, Cash & Carry with consumer markets, department stores and mail-order businesses.

The Benefit of Brand Value

Success does not happen by accident. It is based on high media presence of the brand in the last two years, which made consumers more aware of the LIQUI-MOLY products. Eve-ryone advertises, of course. The Ulm company has apparently done things a little different or better than competition here as well. This has not only brought them first place in the mentioned large-area store but also created increasing demand for its products across the country among car operations. Prost’s team has managed to do one thing ahead of everyone else among the lubricant and workshop concept providers; it has firmly anchored its brand in the heads of car drivers! The car industry also greatly profits from this. Workshops receive a welcome opportunity of transferring the “power” of the LIQUI MOLY brand to their CI and service, which is a perfect symbiosis, the specialists say.

Not only does the positive brand image of its lubricant benefit the automotive industry, but its offered range is just as great. With its thought-through structure, LIQUI MOLY deals with work-shops as a true “full-range provider”, enabling car operations to buy everything they need in addition to lubricants and additives from the chemical-technical area from a single provider. The best thing about it is that LIQUI MOLY not

only provides its partners with high-quality and functional products, but the workshops will also receive the right tools, aids and trainings for them. This satisfies workshops, drivers and the company.

At only 55 years and not quite 600 employees, the medium-sized business from Ulm around com-pany manager and owner Ernst Prost is not only a young but also a “slim” company in the automo-tive lubricant business – and that‘s what it be-haves like as well. While the industry‘s big boys are often commercially and humanly slow-moving on set tracks, LIQUI MOLY quickly adapts to mar-ket requirements and therefore the wishes of its

customers. Competition-free instruments like a “workshop council” create new service ideas and products up from the basis, enabling workshops and companies to achieve a currently rare degree of cooperation. Its business model is based on interaction on eye level. The company‘s leaders are certain that this approach could be exported successfully as well.

At this time, LIQUI MOLY delivers its products to more than 100 countries around the world and the number is ever increasing. Again, the combina-tion of thought-through concepts combined with technical competence, “Made in Germany” falls on economically fertile soil for the benefit of eve-ryone involved. It is hardly surprising that the Ulm company is always looking ahead rather than back as well.

Then and now: Additives over time.

Produced and bottled in Germany: lubricants

by LIQUI MOLY.


kfz-betrieb Special

Interview

Success by HumanityErnst Prost, CEO and owner of LIQUI MOLY on entrepreneurial principles with a humane appearance

Editor: LIQUI MOLY is swimming on a wave of success. Are you satisfied with what you have achieved?Ernst Prost: For 22 years, I have been working for and with LIQUI MOLY in different functions. One must never be satisfied – not as marketing man-ager, not as sales manager and not as executive manager. Satisfaction leads to over-saturation and a loss of effort. If you are satisfied in your business, you stop looking ahead. This does not lead to success but to stagnation and, by extension, to backwards movement, degradation and failure. I must never be satisfied.

Can you still look back with a positive result?I do not look back. What‘s past is past. I prefer focusing on new ideas, new tasks. I have visions that I, or we all, pursue every day in our high-set goals and challenges. Working in this is more fun for me than looking back and praising my own work. I, and all of us at LIQUI MOLY, prefer look-ing forward and actively tackling the future. This doesn‘t mean charging blindly ahead. We have defined structures, precise requirements and ac-

curate schedules. We have very good business management instruments in place that we act according to. We leave others to act upon “wishful thinking”.

Why do you link economic action with strong social commitment?That‘s because of my origin and my experience from early childhood. I come from what many would call “the very bottom”. Everyone wants to get away from there and move upward. This has always driven people to become ambitious and motivated. If you are able to bundle this drive in a targeted fashion, a little luck and a good and motivated team can take your ambition to results and, in turn, to success. I am in the lucky situation of being able to put my entire energy into the company, which leads to visible success of LIQUI MOLY as well.

Why is Ernst Prost the person he is?I wanted to take the consequences of my experience at school and on the job. There were things I didn‘t like. I wanted to be a

better boss than that. I have this goal in mind every single day. You can demonstrate

against the problems in society, politics and economy, as we used to. You can also, as I have chosen to do as an executive, do things differ-ently and better yourself. This means managing a company with propriety, respect and love – with


Special

Personal informationErnst Prost (55)

▶ CEO and owner of LIQUI MOLY GmbH ▶ Career: car mechanic, marketing and sales manager at Hoffmann Sonax Chemie KG, marketing and sales manager for specialist trade LIQUI MOLY, manager of LIQUI MOLY

▶ Marital status: unmarried, one son

love for work and for the cus-tomer.

Why do so few entrepreneurs act as you do?The idea that I am a laudable ex-ception is not right. There are not so very few who act as I do. They are quite frequent among medi-um-sized businesses. There are entrepreneurs who think in the long term and sustainably, act properly and treat their employees well and who do not engage in tax evasion and fraud against other people. The latter specifically is something you hear often because the black sheep that are found everywhere are often focused on. It is easy to overlook all the white ones. No one reports on someone being decent, paying his taxes and doing his work properly.

Except when he‘s Ernst Prost?The media noticed me and de-cided to report on me. I don‘t know why. There are thousands like me. In any case, some have followed our example. They have been motivated to act as we do. We have triggered a thinking process in some circles of economy and the financial industry. This is part of the feedback I get regularly. Many didn‘t seem to know that things could be done differently and that values like humility, humanity and love can lead to economic success. We phrased it like this once: We are not successful and still humane – we

are successful because we are humane. You can do it without exploiting people, without pressure, with-out the whip. Never confuse this with Laisser-faire, though, or negligence. I can and I have to be hard as well. I have to make unpopular decisions at need. I have to sack people who deserved it. If I didn‘t do that, if I wasn‘t consistent here, the company would be in danger of deteriorating.

What is the employees‘ role for you?They aren‘t employees. They are colleagues. They are my companions and co-entrepreneurs. When things go bad, they suffer with me. When things work well, they are my partners in success. This is what my company is about. The team – the organ-ism – has to work as a whole. The community has to be strong, healthy and success-oriented. No

matter how good I am, I don‘t stand a chance on my own. I need my people to reach the goals we have set.

Is producing good products enough for a company today?I have been saying for 20 years that it is not. The product is the basis. Added to it are the right marketing and sales. You also have to be good as a company and act properly and correctly as part of society. Pay your taxes, maintain your site, create training positions, maintain jobs and pay proper wages. Otherwise, society will oust you. Just look at Schlecker there. The products were just as good as the competitor ones, but the ma-nagement was not. Customers then stopped buying from this provider. Things have to match, now more than ever, since transparency has in-creased in society.

Do you have role models?Of course. Mother Theresa and Mahatma Gandhi are personalities who have been and still are role models for me in their social conduct. I have also been inspired by interesting people from econo-my that I met: Grete Schickedanz, Max Grundig, Reinhold Würth and Manfred Maus of Obi. I have role models who, I think, did their job in life well and others who did the same in business. I try to combine the two: economic success with social benefits for the society. I want to help others. I just founded a foundation for efficiently helping

people in need. I do not like the idea of publici-ty-relevant donations here and there, like some others do.

Do you have any goals left in life? If so, which ones?I have some, specifically in the business area. They are goals derived from our visions and dreams. We want to become the global market leader. I am certain that we will acquire an important position in every country of the world in the course of the next 20 years with motor oils and lubricants. All 600 of us want to convert our ideas to direct suc-cess. I personally would like to have a little more freedom again. Not free time, I can take that at any time. I mean freedom, light-heartedness, not being encumbered. This is mainly due to my media appearances in the last two years. The price for them has been very high. I am generally happy, but I would like to take care of myself a bit again in future. There‘s life before death as well after all (laughs).

This was the company‘s foundation once: Ernst Prost with one of the many additive products.

You can be successful with values like humility, humanity and love.


kfz-betrieb Special

Foreign Markets

The Goal: Global Market LeadershipExport offers the potential that LIQUI MOLY needs for future growth

Once, the German market was deemed a guarantor for growth and security for the medium-sized busi-ness. Times have since changed. Not only does the number of citizens go back, but those of them who have cars use them less and less. That‘s a problem for the lubricant market as well. All of a sudden, remote places become much more interesting. For-eign countries come closer and closer as welcome sales markets. LIQUI MOLY feels this as well. In contrast to many others, however, the Ulm com-pany has recognised the situation early on and reacted to it. It has been busy in developing many foreign markets or creating the prerequisites for it.

LIQUI MOLY maintains dedicated subsidiaries in Portugal, South Africa, the US and China. There

is a sales office in Shanghai, as well as in Thai-land, Australia and other states. In some other countries, the company cooperates with sales partners. New markets can be developed quicker and more easily with a partner on site assuming sales work. However, these partners usually can-not act as efficiently as you can yourself. The company knows its own products and history best. Therefore, the Swabia lubricant pros act in a dif-ferentiated manner. This is also shown by the single exception from the above rule: The market in the former Soviet Union, where LIQUI MOLY started development with a partner 15 years ago. Success is still great, so there is no reason to change anything about it.

The managers of LIQUI MOLY consider countries with lots of workshops to offer the greatest growth poten-tial. These include, for example, the US and Brazil and other places where the company has shown little activ-ity before. Even though the technical level of classic brand work-shops and free work-shops is nearly the same in the industrial nations, the standard of free workshops is

much lower outside of these countries. LIQUI MOLY has to adjust its products accordingly to be accepted on the respective market. This doesn‘t mean reverting to “low budget products”. Quite the opposite. Special motor oils are created for these countries to cover the local needs. State-of-the-art vehicle engines require low-sulphuric fuels to meet current exhaust standards like the Euro-5/6. The non-industrial countries mentioned often only have a single fuel available, and that tends to have too much of a sulphur content, which puts a strain on the motor oil. These markets need an oil that neutralises these contaminations to meet the vehicle producers‘ requirements.

Many large lubricant providers have termi-nated their contracts with general importers in the last years to supply the markets on their own

at virtually any price. Most brands have many production sites so that the national dealer can choose from where to buy his lubricants. This leads to a competition that is harmful for the brand. Such oil companies run danger of destroy-ing their own brand image by causing price de-terioration. The Ulm company, in contrast, fo-cuses on long-term trust-based cooperation. With them, partners can be certain that cooperation will continue today, tomorrow and next week. They help develop the brand and convey plan-ning safety to create trust.

Even though Ernst Prost‘s call to becoming the global market leader sounds very ambitious, he and his team have doubled turnover every four years since 1999. The question is not whether or not it is possible – the question is when. The Ulm ladies and gentlemen have long recognised the signs of the time. You don‘t seriously doubt that, do you?

This workshop in Malaysia also trusts in the lubri-cant brand from far-away Ulm.

LIQUI MOLY is present even in South America, as it is here in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Welcome to the LIQUI-MOLY Shop in Jordan.


Special

Interview

Always a Little BetterGerhard Riedmüller, Head of Export Business on perspectives abroad

Editor: What does export mean for LIQUI MOLY?Gerhard Riedmüller: Until just a few years ago, the export share at LIQUI MOLY was at 30 to 40 per-cent. By now, we are selling more than half of our products abroad. We assume that the export share will be about twice the national sales in the next five to ten years.

Why do you think this is the case?There are about 850 million vehi-cles in the world. About 40 million of them drive on German roads. The lubricant markets of the coun-tries we focused on less before with their 810 million vehicles would lead to truly great growth potential if we can develop them successfully.

Why did export pick up so clearly in the last five years?The economy, in particularly in China, saw above-average develop-ment in this period. The global de-mand on the other markets remains stable or grew only little. We, in contrast, have always grown when we clearly increased our investment in manpower in the respective coun-tries. For example, the staff of our export department has grown from nine in 2001 to 60 today. This makes us able to act much more successfully to begin with.

Is international expansion difficult for a medium-sized business?The big multi-national groups present in all countries based on fuel and power sales see lubricant sales as a little extra, if that. It is a fraction of their business. For us, sale of lubricants and other prod-ucts is 100 percent of our business. Therefore, we have to find ways of persevering next to the big players. We need to be a little bit better than they are. The big groups focus on volume only. They focus less on the end consumer and the work-shop. We, in contrast, would like to sell concepts. We support our cus-tomers intensely. We support them with trainings, with tools needed for their service business. We en-

able their own brand identity and other things that large groups do not offer.

How is export organised at LIQUI MOLY?We have 15 so-called export area managers in Ulm who support the respective markets. They have the

task as well as the opportunity to design visions for their markets that match those of the com-pany. In contrast to other companies, there are no dedicated guidelines and provisions for action abroad. Our salespeople make their own decisions on where they go when, how and where they can

find the most successful and most sustainable transactions in the long term. They are free in making their decisions. This has enabled us to successfully develop new markets, e.g. in many African states, which we nor our competi-tors would not have been able to do otherwise.

Are you equally successful on all markets?Not at all. Our offers are accepted differently in different countries, based on local attitude. There are still countries that are very price-sensitive and where people cannot afford a lot. With increasing vehi-cle quality, the demand among drivers and workshops for top products and professional support in matters of lubricants increases as well, however.

Speaking of “high-quality vehi-cles”: How important is Made in Germany?Generally, wherever vehicles are sold with “Made in Germany” as a sales argument, Made in Germany is important for selling lubricants as well. German car equals Ger-man oil. Products made in Ger-many still have a very good reputa-tion. There‘s a reason for this, of course. Our oils offer a much better quality than oils from other coun-tries.

Experience with international business:

Head of Export Business Gerhard Riedmüller

Personal informationGerhard Riedmüller (61)

▶ Head of Export Business ▶ Career: with LIQUI MOLY since 1973; first as sales clerk in sales, responsible for global export since 2000

▶ Marital status: married, two children

kfz-betrieb Special

the time and money required for this, it is truly annoying. When “sensitive” items are procured from different sources, there also is a risk of them not working together well.

One company is very aware of this: LIQUI MOLY. The “all-rounder” in matters of lubricants and car chemistry has a good reason for claiming to be what others can only dream of: a full range pro-vider. Car workshops can get nearly anything they need from the areas of oils including grease, ad-ditives, car care products and workshop chemistry from the company from Ulm. No mat-ter if their business is aligned with car, industrial vehicle, bicycle or garden tool and boat services, from motor and gear oil to break cleaners to comprehensive skin care concepts – many products, a very wide range but only a single contact!

The LIQUI MOLY business concept has been based on lubricants for about three decades. Oils are the most impor-

The offer

Everything under One Lubricant RoofA motto with a thousand facets: LIQUI MOLY – the full range provider

tant product group. If you expect to see motor and gear oils for cars, industrial vehicles and bicycles but nothing else, have a look at www.liqui-moly.de and check out the sections of “lubricants” or “motor oils”. You will find the oils named as well as oils for tractors, boats, vintage cars, lawn mowers and chain-

saws, gas engines and so on. The gear oil section is similar in appearance. Additionally, there is a wide range of other special products like hydrau-lics and compressor oils, grease, pastes, etc. The com-pany offers anything from PTFE dry lubricants to silicone grease to brake assembly pastes. Have a look!

As a very special feature, LIQUI MOLY offers car workshops not only

these lubricants, but also the tools and aids required for their application. You can buy the matching gear oil filling device for your gear oil canister in Ulm as well. The grease gun to match your grease bucket is easily available. Isn‘t it sensible to offer the right waste oil ex-traction device for the fresh oil you sell? Why doesn‘t your previous lubricant sup-plier offer an oil binder? We‘re sure that

it has asked itself these questions a couple of times in the past as well.

The additive group is, often also technically, connected to the lubricants. Once the main focus and namesake of LIQUI MOLY, the segment of practical and handy service aids is the second column

Smart and very helpful: Practical concepts such as the gear-oil cabinet.

More than 4,000 items in total: the LIQUI MOLY range.

Air-conditioning service? Get your solution from LIQUI MOLY!

“Time is money.” Everyone knows this old and oh-so-true proverb. It applies particularly for those who, like car workshops, sell time in the form of services. It is all the more annoying to waste lots of time for “administrative” tasks. Many workshops are facing similar problems. They usually have to contact many suppliers to get their products, tools or information for their service business. With all

of the all-round offer. Once, classic motor oil ad-ditives held the monopoly in additive matters. Today, they are supplemented by a growing number of fuel additives. Again, even “niche prod-ucts” that cause quite a few providers to only shrug

10 www.kfz-betrieb.de

kfz-betrieb Special

the time and money required for this, it is truly annoying. When “sensitive” items are procured from different sources, there also is a risk of them not working together well.

One company is very aware of this: LIQUI MOLY. The “all-rounder” in matters of lubricants and car chemistry has a good reason for claiming to be what others can only dream of: a full range pro-vider. Car workshops can get nearly anything they need from the areas of oils including grease, ad-ditives, car care products and workshop chemistry from the company from Ulm. No mat-ter if their business is aligned with car, industrial vehicle, bicycle or garden tool and boat services, from motor and gear oil to break cleaners to comprehensive skin care concepts – many products, a very wide range but only a single contact!

The LIQUI MOLY business concept has been based on lubricants for about three decades. Oils are the most impor-

The offer

Everything under One Lubricant RoofA motto with a thousand facets: LIQUI MOLY – the full range provider

tant product group. If you expect to see motor and gear oils for cars, industrial vehicles and bicycles but nothing else, have a look at www.liqui-moly.de and check out the sections of “lubricants” or “motor oils”. You will find the oils named as well as oils for tractors, boats, vintage cars, lawn mowers and chain-

saws, gas engines and so on. The gear oil section is similar in appearance. Additionally, there is a wide range of other special products like hydrau-lics and compressor oils, grease, pastes, etc. The com-pany offers anything from PTFE dry lubricants to silicone grease to brake assembly pastes. Have a look!

As a very special feature, LIQUI MOLY offers car workshops not only

these lubricants, but also the tools and aids required for their application. You can buy the matching gear oil filling device for your gear oil canister in Ulm as well. The grease gun to match your grease bucket is easily available. Isn‘t it sensible to offer the right waste oil ex-traction device for the fresh oil you sell? Why doesn‘t your previous lubricant sup-plier offer an oil binder? We‘re sure that

it has asked itself these questions a couple of times in the past as well.

The additive group is, often also technically, connected to the lubricants. Once the main focus and namesake of LIQUI MOLY, the segment of practical and handy service aids is the second column

Smart and very helpful: Practical concepts such as the gear-oil cabinet.

More than 4,000 items in total: the LIQUI MOLY range.

Air-conditioning service? Get your solution from LIQUI MOLY!

“Time is money.” Everyone knows this old and oh-so-true proverb. It applies particularly for those who, like car workshops, sell time in the form of services. It is all the more annoying to waste lots of time for “administrative” tasks. Many workshops are facing similar problems. They usually have to contact many suppliers to get their products, tools or information for their service business. With all

of the all-round offer. Once, classic motor oil ad-ditives held the monopoly in additive matters. Today, they are supplemented by a growing number of fuel additives. Again, even “niche prod-ucts” that cause quite a few providers to only shrug

10 www.kfz-betrieb.de

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when asked about them, are part of LIQUI MOLY‘s se-rial offer. This in-cludes wearing pro-tection additives for gas-powered vehi-cles as well as special gear oil additives.

Speaking of “spe-cial”, the offer also in-cludes a specialist for any situation. There is a large selection of products that every workshop needs all the time: handy can-shaped helpers for quick service use in the blink of an eye. This range goes from “evergreens” such as rust removers and spray-on grease to leak search spray to liquid starting aids. All in all, there are several thousand items. This doesn‘t even include the comprehen-sive range of vehicle care products. It covers anything from top cleaners to rubber care to

glossy spray-on wax. “Too much to list”, you would say. Once again, LIQUI MOLY offers a bandwidth that is truly unique.

Are you still looking for more? We have it! The

busy Swabians have summarised many

products every workshop needs as well in the cat-

egory of “gluing and sealing”. The range

goes from adhesive and sealing mate-rial cartridges to cavity and underfloor sealants

to window repair sets. Once again, LIQUI MOLY provides car workshops with a great selection of products and the matching tools required for processing.

The company can do even better than this. LIQUI MOLY supports its partner companies with

The matching service tools for window repairs from LIQUI MOLY.

service components that make it easier for work-shops to render services in a more targeted man-ner and increase efficiency and turnover such as in car window installations. Dedicated, specifi-cally developed concepts, such as a particle filter cleaning system, permit operations to also de-velop new market segments and therefore revenue sources and to differentiate from service com-petitors in this manner. If you want to learn more about this, turn the page!

You think that‘s everything? Far from it! In spite of comprising more than 4,000 items already, the in-house range is growing every day. This is en-sured not only by the LIQUI MOLY employee fam-ily but also by you. You, exactly! The many car workshops across the country. Like no other, this all-rounder keeps an eye on its customers. It notes the needs, wishes and suggestions and, in contrast to many competitors, puts them into practice ac-cordingly if possible and sensible. Read more on how this works in practise on page 23. The “work-shop council” example shown there quickly illus-trates that things work a bit differently in Ulm. Maybe a bit better.

www.kfz-betrieb.de 11


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Workshop Concepts

Wellness for the WorkshopLIQUI MOLY‘s thought-through components and tools render everyday work more efficient

Are you surprised to see wellness and workshop in a single sentence? You‘ll be amazed. That‘s just what LIQUI MOLY offers to car workshops, far more than “just” top lubricants and additives. LIQUI MOLY offers instruments with true added value. Instruments that either help develop new business fields or permit achieving additional turnover – or both. Instruments that quite simply make it easier to be successful an therefore relax the car business a little more. It really isn’t that different from wellness, is it?

Not only has the company from Ulm the prob-ably largest field service team in the German lubricant business to always stay in close contact with you, the customer, (see p. 14 et seq.). With the “Workshop council” it also has a unique in-strument that helps in trying out products and services in a practice-oriented manner (see p. 23) or to develop them in the first place. Ideas and suggestions for these often come from the coun-cil – from you and your equals. On the other hand, the LIQUI MOLY Headquarters have many creative heads on site who look beyond the rims

of their teacups to use the opportunities pro-vided by a medium-sized company with flat hi-erarchies, short paths to decision and personal interaction.

Since this is the case, the Ulm company keeps surprising workshops with inventive and successful functions that are often unique in the industry. A good classic example invented by LIQUI MOLY, often copied and never surpassed, is the oil cabi-net. With simple looks from the outside, it hides great benefits inside. Workshops can store many different oil types cleanly, securely and space-ef-ficiently in it with its lockable metal cabinet with space for twelve 20-litre canisters or eight canis-ters and two 60-litre oil barrels. It comes with an integrated collection tray for dripped oil and prac-tical door compartments for useful extras like the in-house oil guide. The same applies for its little brother, the gear oil cabinet. In it, users can store three 20-litre-canisters and 18 one-litre-cans as practically. It can also be locked and has an ex-tensive collection tray. By the way, the gear oil cabinet has a twin in the motorcycle oil cabinet.

Value-added service concepts: e.g. the air conditioning cleaning system.

LIQUI MOLY has the matching concept answer for windshield removal as well.


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We highly recommend it to any motorcycle work-shop.

Recyclable oil containers have also been in the LIQUI MOLY offer since before other lubricant providers even thought about the subject of envi-ronmental protection. It is a 60- or 120-litre oil barrel, the collection device and oil separator re-quired by law as well as a mobile oil cabinet in one. It is even environmentally compatible; the recycling-principle stainless steel oil containers can be refilled and reused – great, isn‘t it? The benefits for the workshop are clear: No annoying emptying of residue and disposal of disposable packages, no constructional requirements in op-eration. It‘s even available without any surcharge, but at the same price as classic barrel goods. Op-tional devices such as pumps, tapping guns, hoses, counters and rolling frames are available free of charge in the scope of a provision and us-age agreement. LIQUI MOLY partners can face disposable waste oil calmly as well. All used lubri-cants will be easily disposed by in-house disposal partner “Partslife” free of charge. The same applies for empty cans and canisters.

Service Segments Deliberately Covered

Are your ears hurting from that big car glass provider‘s advertising jingle? Is it starting to get entrepreneurially annoying as well? Think about taking the business with windshield and co. (back) in your own hands. You can get lots of support from LIQUI MOLY. The lubricant and chemistry professional offers the adhesives and sealants, as well as providing workshops with the necessary tools. From glass scrapers to suction lifters, from windshield block to cartridge heat-ers and adhesive guns, the Ulm company offers everything you can think of. They even add their Au-toglas-Info as the cherry on this cake. Autoglas-Info is an online software that supports partner workshops in diverse aspects. It tells them which pane is need for each given vehicle type, helps cal-culate costs and even assumes the correspondence with insurances and customers. What else could a workshop wish for?

A stink around you or your cus-tomers may be caused by an air conditioning that has last been disinfected so long ago that you can smell the need for service. That‘s why the LIQUI MOLY range for state-of-the-art air condition-ing service offers not only urgent-ly needed compressor oils, but also cleaning agents and disinfectants for the popular cooling systems. LIQUI MOLY wouldn‘t be LIQUI

MOLY if they hadn‘t also included the matching service concept. This means that workshops re-ceive not only the product, but also the tools they need; in this case in the form of a cleaning gun with application nozzles. Since the market offers nothing that matches the demands of the Ulm companies, they developed their own nozzles and now have them produced. The cherry on this cake once again is the practical aid serially provided to the specialist in the form of information on how to get to the vaporiser in the different vehi-

cle types, as well as the matching advertising media for end customer contact.

As mentioned before, the LIQUI MOLY team always thinks about how to improve present prod-ucts and concepts or how to develop new ones. This is often triggered by the often-quoted practi-cal experience that cannot, as we all know, be replaced. The “tyre assembly spray” is one exam-ple. Increasing wheel rim diameters and con-nected low tyre cross-sections make quick and correct application of tyres more difficult for work-shops. There are also systems like “runflat” that turn comparably soft tyres truly tough. This is what the tyre assembly spray is meant for. Car work-shops can mount the tyres faster, more cleanly and safely with this aid that offers great creep and sliding properties to accelerate mounting and unmounting of the tyres. At the same time, it keeps them from slipping on the rim. You won‘t even have to engage in the annoying removal of excess mounting past from the tyre flank as usual.

You want to see another example? Here you go: The “throttle cleaner”. Its development was based on an idea straight from the workshops, from people like you. For a long time, they had the problem of throttle bodies being contami-nated and coked on a regular basis. The often-elaborate removal and difficult manual cleaning process was an annoyance for workshops and owners alike. The workshops wanted a time and cost-efficient alternative. LIQUI MOLY responded without delay and was the first to offer the serv-ice front the matching tool. It is a spray that cleans these components without disassembly, easily, quickly and economically, making every-day work a little easier for them. It‘s all about wellness.

One container – a dozen benefits: the reusable oil container.

The throttle cleaner makes elaborate service work obsolete in the blink of an eye.


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Interview

A Strong TeamGünter Hiermaier, Head of National Sales on the interrelation of success and man power

Editor: Mr Hiermaier, how does business go?Günter Hiermaier: It‘s going great. For quite some time, our annual growth has been in the two-digit percentage area. In parallel with that, we were able to continually increase the number of our employees, in particular in field service. We have now more than 100 field service employees and therefore are able to support our four sales channels in the best possible fashion.

Which are those?They are car parts trade, car workshops and car dealers, as well as large-area stores with consum-er markets like DIY stores and supermarkets, and the industrial area. We deliver our products right to production for the vehicle producers and also produce for these “private-label products”. On the other hand, we provide our special lubricants to

the vehicle supply industry. It, in turn, enters the products in vehicle production in the form of sys-tem components.

Which one of the four areas has developed best?The best dynamics could be found in car parts trade with its connected workshop concepts. We have nearly doubled our turnover there in the last four years. The large-area business has developed very well. Even though we are a comparably young lu-bricant provider – LIQUI MOLY started with the production of additives in 1957 and only expanded its range to motor oils in the late 1970‘s – they hold a share of roughly two thirds of our turnover now.

What are your objectives for the future?We will continue our growth strategy. Our market share in the free car parts trade still offers suffi-

cient potential for noticeable growth for LIQUI MOLY. This also applies for the segment of brand-bound car workshops. We will continue to increase our brand presence here together with the auto-motive industry and the downstream service or-ganisations.

How do you want to continue growing on the mar-ket for motor oils? It is shrinking here, after all.This area is very clearly subject to predatory com-petition; reducing annual mileage, increasing oil change intervals, low oil volumes in the motors – to name only the most important reasons – make the cake smaller for everyone around. However, we believe that rather than the biggest player, the best one will prevail. This is usually the one who keeps his ear closer to the market, supports his customers comprehensively and reacts to their


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wishes and suggestions in an adequate manner. We can provide all of this with our wide-spread field service that we continually improved while our com-petitors often reduce their sales teams.

What benefits does this sales strength have for workshops?On the one hand, our customers enjoy on-going specialist consulting on-site for their lubricant business. Field serv-ice consults the operations on the serv-ice offer, gives them security regarding correct use of lubricants and acts as an uncomplicated problem solver if re-quired. Additionally, our colleagues from the service hotline, among them eight application technicians, will help the car workshops at any time if they need help in technical matters. We, in turn, see a strong field service as a me-diator for customer contact available at any time.

Why do you have a separate sales team for the industrial vehicle area?A workshop for industrial vehicles is set up differently than one for private cars. For example, they can hardly make any money from the purchase and sale of lubricants. An industrial vehicle owner will see oils as a cost driver only. Since the precise opposite may be the case and special products, like oils for smooth running, may noticeably reduce operating costs, a truck workshop needs to ap-proach its customers very differently. We have been supporting the workshops, forwarders and fleets on-site with ten dedicated industrial vehicle team members across Germany for about two years to convey facts like this in the required qualified manner.

Workshops are not happy that drivers may also buy a motor oil brand they offer in wholesale or DIY shops. Why do you still insist on selling in so-called “Cash and Carry Markets”?A brand always has the claim to availability. We ensure this for our products by using the large area as a sales channel as well. Higher availability and brand popularity in general will increase specific

Personal informationGünter Hiermaier (48)

▶ Head of National Sales at LIQUI MOLY since 2006

▶ Career: Trained as an industrial clerk at Sonax, Key-Account Manager specialist trade at LIQUI MOLY since 1990, then sales manager specialist trade, then overall sales manager Germany and authorised signatory, sales manager Germany and Austria since 2004

▶ Marital status: married, three children

demand here in the car specialist workshops as well.

Is high brand popularity the only LIQUI MOLY characteristic that workshops can profit from?Certainly not! We also offer products reserved for specialist workshops, like the additives and lubri-cants of our “Pro Line”. These products have a

different formulation and concentration, differing clearly from the do-it-yourself items for large area sales. The workshop thus has a specific product and still profits from the LIQUI MOLY brand pop-ularity.

How happy are you with development of the pric-es you can achieve on the market for your prod-ucts?Every lubricant provider is subject to great com-petitive pressure. Added to this is that we are the only renowned branded oil producer to develop the workshop business under inclusion of whole-

sale. This gives us a certain financial disadvantage as compared to provid-ers who only or directly supply the car trade. We balance out this handicap with our comprehensive branding con-cepts and our strong field service.

How did the steep increase of the prices for raw oil in the last years affect your product?We are an oil factory, but not a refin-ery. We have to purchase basic oils and additive packages that we need for our high-performance lubricants on the free market. The raw oil price increased steeply in the last years and caused a corresponding noticeable price in-crease here. This is more of a disadvan-tage for us than it would be for a large mineral oil group. The currency differ-ences also play a part on this. We pay for our raw materials in US dollar, which went up by more than 15 per-cent as compared to the Euro in the last twelve months. At the same time, we cannot adjust the sales prices of our lubricants directly to the global market situation. Competition, in par-ticular in the area of volume products, does not allow this. Still, we cannot avoid moderate price adjustments.

How important is the foreign market for LIQUI MOLY?Export is very important to us. By now, it has a share in excess of 50 percent in the LIQUI MOLY turnover, and it still keeps rising. We support our international markets with dedicated export area managers, who in turn closely cooperate with local importers. The only exception is Austria, where we pursue the same sales philosophy as on the Ger-man market, using the car parts dealers.

Speaking of export: How important is it that a product is produced in Germany?“Made in Germany” is still a very important qual-ity seal. This particularly applies for high-tech products like state-of-the-art lubricants and addi-tives. Of course, a brand like LIQUI MOLY that produces in Germany exclusively, profits of this. If a customer abroad purchases a premium product like a German car, he will often put great store in also having service products like motor and gear oils that are “Made in Germany”. This makes it easier for the car workshops there to sell our prod-ucts. The addition is printed on all of our interna-tional products. Together with the German product notes, it symbolises the high LIQUI MOLY quality standard, as is also documented by the great number of oil releases that we have received and continually receive from nearly all renowned vehi-cle producers.

Günter Hiermaier has been a member of the LIQUI MOLY team for 22 years. He is responsible for sales in Germany and Austria.

Not the size of a company is important for success, but rather comprehensive custo-mer service and marketability.


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In Practice

“LIQUI MOLY? That‘s Okay!”Kfz-Schertl: a perfect partner for lubricant suppliers – unfortunately, it‘s already taken

Let‘s not beat around the bush; the Upper Palati-nate has a rather brittle charm. If they say “that‘s okay”, they mean “it‘s truly outstanding!”. On the other hand, the residents of the former zone edge territories in North-Eastern Bavaria will initially stay clear of anything unknown – or so they say. Heribert Schertl, from Vilsek in the Upper Palati-nate, wanted to stick with the old and proven as well when he was looking for a lubricant partner for his new workshop. For many years, he was run-ning his car workshop as a secondary business in his private double-garage. He focused on products of the popular “C” brand for motor oils, gear oils

“LIQUI MOLY thinks about what car workshops truly need in practice,” says workshop owner Heribert Schertl. The best example are the oil containers.

and similar products. However, the large group didn‘t know of that before. After all, Schertl had purchased the oils he required from his spare parts supplier at rather homeopathic volumes for a large group‘s business. There was no direct connection to the global player.

This changed when he opened the quite re-spectable new workshop on the 4,000 square metre field in 2009: An “oil contract” as common in the industry between the workshop and the lubricant provider was to become the often-quot-ed win-win situation for both, Schertl thought. “In practice, it turned out quickly that they didn‘t want

me as a small free workshop. Apparently, the few litres of oil per year that I purchase are complete-ly uninteresting for them. The relevant field service employee ignored me,” the master car mechanic and expert looks back on the conduct of his al-leged partner.

Can you imagine what followed? 39-year-old Schertl made the best of the situation and went looking for another provider. He found one in LIQUI MOLY. “The best provider for me,” Schertl tells us. Soon after he had contacted his parts wholesaler and his employee Andre Gradl had contacted the three other potential field service


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contacts of his four “oilers”, Isa Kurt from the lubricant specialist from Ulm was the first to visit Schertl. They signed the con-tract quickly.

“They made an effort from the first, and they still do. They are not in the least vain or anything – quite the op-posite. This is a business relationship on eye level,” the company‘s owner charac-terises his “lubricant marriage”. It‘s a classic marriage, not the kind where you sign the papers and everyone goes their own way without thinking about the other‘s matters. Every four to six weeks, the LIQUI MOLY field service, now in the person of Manuel Primus, drops by the Vilsek workshop. “He asks about wheth-er there are any problems, provides technical help on site and makes sure that we know about the new offers of the Swabian oil and additive specialist,” Schertl tells about the harmonious co-operation. If he needs spontaneous sup-port, he can use the comfortable and thought-through online oil guide or simply call an application technician. “I‘d like to see you try that with one of the big guys.” The car specialist is happy about the mid-sized Ulm company and the direct inter-action.

Sensible Concepts Contra “Blind” Loans

Many providers want to sell oil, no matter how. They try to get the workshop to enter into coop-eration with low-interest loans or free provision of workshop equipment. The latter method specifi-cally makes the operations vulnerable in the recur-ring discussion on alleged price rip-off in oils in the car trade. LIQUI MOLY takes a different direc-tion and offers its partner workshops an oil cabi-net that will gradually become their property. “Because of the increasing number of oil standards and releases of the manufacturers, we have to store more and more different oils. If I put up a 60 litre barrel of types that I use only once or twice a year, I will clog up my warehouse and bind capital unnecessarily. The practical 20 litre canis-ters can be stored cleanly, safely and space-effi-ciently in the oil cabinet together with other small packages.” Schertl elaborates on the benefits of an alternative provision/usage agreement on this. “They think before they make an offer.”

According to him, the same applies to LIQUI MOLY in other areas as well. The car workshop purchases its oily fast-movers in returnable stain-less steel barrels instead of the regular sheet metal ones. “It‘s very practical,” the car expert says. “I don‘t need any bulky shelves into which I have to hoist the heavy barrels, and the oil containers are certified to permit me to dispense with the otherwise mandatory oil collection tray. My me-

with the oil cabinet: After a certain time, equip-ment such as barrel pumps, roller frames etc. will become his property.

The recently presented LIQUI MOLY particle filter cleaner is another example for the Ulm com-pany considering a lubricant partnership to be a symbiosis, as well as for the products and concepts it develops that workshops need or that can be used to achieve additional turnover. It permits cleaning of clogged diesel particle filters (DPF). “In connection with the thought-through probe spray system, the cleaner makes parts change or the elaborate and time-consuming uninstallation of the DPF unnecessary. This saves high costs for my customer and I can sell more working time than in a filter exchange.” Schertl likes the smart system where, in contrast to other systems, no cleaner residue will be left over that may have to be disposed of as hazardous waste.

Additives Offer Diverse Opportunities to Workshops

This applies for additives, the second important column of LIQUI MOLY, as well: “Many workshop owners do not like them much. They think they are without function or believe that using additives will cause them to lose paid service hours. This is quite simply wrong,” Schertl explains. “We had many petrol direct injection units in which the customers complained about a repeated slight jerking. It turned out that this was caused by de-posits in the fuel system or the combustion areas.” The fuel additives from the LIQUI MOLY “profes-sional” series, available to specialist workshops only, solved this problem quickly. Both the cus-

chanics also can comfortably get the barrels to the vehicle with a rolling frame and do not need to run to the warehouse repeatedly for the oil vol-ume needed. The returnable concept is also good for the environment and saves me the effort of emptying residue and collection or disposal of the used disposable containers.” Again, Schertl uses the alternative LIQUI MOLY concept illustrated

Is your “oil corner” as clean? The oil containers do not need shelves or collection trays.

A practical and clean LIQUI MOLY invention: the oil cabinet for small packages


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Rarely is he able to sell his oils to the owners of those vehicles, even though drivers can expect truly moderate motor oil prices in a free workshop as compared to large car dealers. Schertl sells a litre of 5W-40 at ten Euros, plus taxes. “The Amer-icans pay about three Euros per litre of a US full synthetic oil even here, so I don‘t even have to suggest mine,” he explains. If he is allowed to procure the right lubricant for one of these exotic vehicles after all, which, while rare, does happen from time to time, he may rely on LIQUI MOLY‘s support in the form of the oil guide and free serv-ice hotline with true specialists at hand. Still, he values his US customers like all the others. The businessman explains their benefits, “They accept the amount of the cost estimate or invoice as it is. They don‘t haggle, and I have less problems with non-paying customers.”

Speaking of “value”: Schertl values his lubricant partner in many aspects. Not only is he thorough-ly happy about the product quality LIQUI MOLY offers, the motor and gear oils also have all vehi-cle product releases relevant for his service market. He can cover all everyday lubricant needs with a single provider. He has experienced some nice episodes with it as well. “Four, five years ago, most drivers here hardly knew about LIQUI MOLY. Now, they come in and go You sell LIQUI MOLY, don‘t you? I know that brand!. Often, that‘s the first step to acquiring a new customer,” Schertl describes the aspect workshops profit of more with LIQUI MOLY than with most other providers; the brand popularity and likability of their lubricant pro-vider.

Does he think that the brand that didn‘t want him back then has regretted its decision yet? “Maybe,” Master Schertl speculates. The current business situation suggests it. Once a workshop with a single journeyman and Schertel‘s wife in the office has become a respectable company of nine that also provides agency services for new cars. Would he even want to change his lubricant brand? “Why? LIQUI MOLY – that‘s okay,” Schertl says with a wink.

tomer and the workshop profited. Schertl counters the often badly considered prejudice his fellow industry members voice about additives, “I‘d like to see the workshop that says that they would have disassembled the cylinder head, taken apart half the intake system, classically cleaned every-thing mechanically and found a customer to pay a three- or four-digit amount for this.”

The team purchases nearly all the items from the product group of lubricants and the chemical-technical area from LIQUI MOLY. “I am happy that I can get everything from a single source. I cannot afford using some kind of stuff that works more or less or not at all. That‘s not even mentioning the valuable time that I will lose in dealing with

any number of agents – one for this product group, one for the next – who do nothing but talk a lot,” the specialist summarises. What about the new skin protection and care range LIQUI MOLY offers? “I‘ve ordered it already,” Schertl laughs, saying, “One thing less to think of.”

The Upper Palatinate service specialists have five to ten orders a day. About one third of his customer base of 1.300 are US citizens from the US military base in the area with its 10,000 residents “They don‘t drive a Golf or Fiat Punto. They have Ford F150 and pick-up types as well as unknown Japanese models by default,” Schertl sketches his everyday oil needs, which aren‘t al-ways easily met even by LIQUI MOLY.

Alfred Kraus also values thought-through workshop concepts like the ASD filling station for brake cleaners.

Oil by Tank TruckCar workshops with a remote oil system may also procure LIQUI MOLY oils right from the tank truck. A lower price and less of an effort in storage and handling of the lubricants in the workshop make the benefits clear. The Ulm specialists use dedicated container vehicles and three-chamber trailers for packaging-free oil supply. Two separate pump sys-tems with meters and voucher printer fill the tanks in the workshops. Deliveries will be made within ten working days of receipt of the order. The minimum order volume is 1,000 litres per type. Those who don‘t have a remote oil system yet can save money with LIQUI MOLY as well: Special multi-purpose tanks that can bind the complete tank content and therefore make separate collection devices obsolete are provided free of charge in the scope of an oil contract.


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In Practice

LIQUI MOLY: The Smart AlternativeContracted workshop – so what? Auto Tischler takes its own path in lubricant technology

Things were once much easier for car dealers with their producers. They not only ensured enough of a profit when selling vehicles but also in lubricants. This changed over time. On the one hand, more and more vehicle producers try to push their own lubricant brand onto the market – see Mercedes-Benz. On the other hand, LIQUI MOLY now is one provider offering contracting partners everything that car workshops used to only get from large brands for the longest time. “I was really surprised to see that they even have a separate field service team for us brand operations,” Alfred Tischler, owner of Auto Tischler and Ford contracting part-ner in Lower Bavarian Ortenburg says as he looks back onto the first exchange of information with Peter Prechler. The area manager for brand-specif-ic car dealers at LIQUI MOLY dropped by Tischler‘s company one day to tell him about the benefits of a partnership with the company from Ulm.

Everyone knows that the German contract deal-er world is changing. Once again, it‘s the medium-sized businesses that suffer. Some of the little ones survive while the big players grow even further. “We little ones grow increasingly uninteresting for the

oil multis here,” Tischler concludes, referring to the lack of sensitivity and reduced dedication of the conventional car dealer oil brands.

Customer Commitment by Additives

He likes being considered important and taken serious at LIQUI MOLY. 41-year-old Tischler illus-trates the active cooperation: “Prechler actually still works for his money. He regularly drops by, asks questions, provides information and points out new ways of increasing customer commitment and developing new business areas. The best ex-amples are the LIQUI MOLY additives.”

Initially, he admits, he was sceptical about the additives as well. “Many providers promise more than their products can keep.” This changed thor-oughly; the Ford partner now adds “Professional” series LIQUI MOLY fuel additives to more and more customer vehicle tanks during customer service. “We don‘t do so without comment. We explain to the customer how it works, acts and what benefits the products have. Most can follow our explana-

tion and decide to use the additive. Many of our regular customers say “You know, with the additive like always” when they hand over their car for customer service,” Tischler contentedly summa-rises his own sales practice.

The additive business has become a fixed part of his service offer in the meantime. The master car mechanic describes his daily practice, “The technology in our cars become more and more sophisticated and the tolerances grow increas-ingly narrow. If tiny parameters are off, problems will often result, in particular, the fuel areas. It‘s the same for common-rail diesel and direct injec-tion petrol engines.” Of course, he earns some money with the LIQUI MOLY additives as well. However, it is more important to him that this professional service aid helps him avoid many of the problems named before they occur or to re-move them after the fact. “The most important thing is that we always give our customers the impression that we are a bit better and faster in meeting their automotive needs than one of the big players might. Size alone has never been de-cisive for success,” Tischler says.


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Additives

Black on White1a-certificates for LIQUI-MOLY additives from an independent Test Institute

You know what? I don‘t think you had straight As at school either. If so, you know what it‘s like. You will remember the feeling we had every half year when the grade sheets were rolling around. Al-though we generally knew where we were, there was this kind of insecurity factor in the air. How will the grades come out in detail?

The LIQUI MOLY team faced this question or situation as well, even though they were deemed exemplary students where additives are concerned. After all, they had been developing and producing many different additives for motor oil, fuels and the cooling circuit in their home base in Ulm for more than half a century and were rightfully con-vinced of their efficiency and quality. In-house tests, various examinations by larger and smaller test companies and the positive experience of many drivers and workshops – it‘s all quite well. Still, we wanted to know how the top experts would devaluate the quality and performance of our products. What kind of grades would we get?

Automobil-Prüftechnik Landau GmbH (APL), with about 1,000 employees, is the largest inde-pendent test institution in the car industry in Eu-rope. At more than 180 engine test benches, it provides diverse test opportunities for engines,

gears, components and entire drive trains to car, engine and gear producers. Volkswagen, Daimler and co. are frequent but top secret customers here! The Ulm company sent three of its liquid trouble-shooters to APL to have them subjected to an all-round in-spection. “I admit that my col-leagues and I were sceptical about the performance of these additives before the examina-tions,” Peter Kunz, team manager oil and fuel tests at APL says, add-ing, “LIQUI MOLY was and still is the only company in the aftersales market that volunteered to have its products tested by APL.” In plain Eng-lish: The inspection specialist set the standards very high.

Kunz and his colleagues were all the more surprised when their computers put out the first test bench results: a motor oil with LIQUI MOLYs Cera Tec, a ceramics wear protection, reached resilience level nine in a classic gear wear test. Without this additive, it was at stage four,

not even half as good. Another positive murmur went through the sacred halls of APL when they received the Injection Cleaner result. 230 milli-grams of deposits formed in a 60-hour long-term test at the valves of a Mercedes-M111 test engine.

The same engine‘s deposits were only at 27 milligrams, about 90 percent less, with the Injection Cleaner.

The Super Diesel additive to clean the injection system and valves in diesel engines was a surprise for the APL inspectors as well. In the 64-hour test bench run, the additive was able to no-ticeably reduce artificial deposits built up by zinc compounds.

The final expert result is straight As! The Landau team was so surprised and convinced by the results that they now use the Injection Cleaner and Super Diesel additive as well to keep some of their test engines clean and free of deposits. The only thing LIQUI MOLY might be sad about is that APL doesn‘t offer a nice, colourful seal for their pack-ages. However, they did issue a great grade sheet. Isn‘t that what counts?

The test equipment of APL Landau, one of the largest car test companies.

All three products had great results in the APL test.


Special

Standards and Releases

Neither Small nor Delicate DifferenceWorkshops increasingly often have to observe manufacturers‘ oil releases

The (advertising) world is often “creative” and tricky at once. It tends to use clever phrasings to circumnavigate facts and truths that may lead to King Customer now taking this or that specific product. Car specialists are not immune to such advertising phrases where release standards for motor oils are concerned. Do you know the differ-ence between “meets” and “corresponds to”?

The known ACEA and API-standards are often used only as a general reference “basis” these days. More and more vehicle producers start de-manding their own standards for the lubricants used in their engines and gears. Complying with them and using the corresponding oils is sensible for drivers and workshops alone, not only within the warranty/guarantee or goodwill period. After all, the vehicle is to remain a joy for its owner for as long and with as little problems as possible.

Car producers coordinate the lubricant with the engine at hand more and more precisely, already including it in development as a “construction element”. Only this permits reducing engine-inter-nal friction further – as in fuel-saving oils – and longer replacement intervals – as in long-life oils. More and more sophisticated exhaust aftertreat-ment systems require use of increasingly specific motor oils. For example, the “low-” and “mid-SAPS

oils” have a lower heavy-metal share for vehicles with particle filters.

Therefore, car workshops should always use lubricants released by the respective producer for the oil change. The “all clear” is not in sight. Quite the opposite. Car workshops will have to keep an eye on producer-specif-ic release standards in the future. The number of individual oil standards is ex-pected to increase, at least within Europe. Not only LIQUI MOLY is convinced of this.

Unfortunately, as is often the case in life, there are some black sheep as well. Some lubricant providers can-not or do not want to make the effort to use the corresponding, sometimes “expensive“ raw materials and addi-tives for their oils. Others cannot or do not want to

go through the effort of having their products inspected for quality and performance by the producer in question to get the respective release. Both costs money, after all. LIQUI MOLY differs: This lubricant David among the big-brand Golia-ths ensures that its products meet the producer

standards named to ensure that workshops and end consumers can use the right oil. LIQUI MOLY in-vests greatly in this, in particular in research and development. The excel-lent result is that they meet the motor oil re-leases of all manufactur-ers in Europe. It‘s a feat to be truly proud of! Therefore, LIQUI MOLY oils state “meets” stand-ard XY, and never “cor-responds to standard XY”. The latter means that no proof has been rendered! It‘s certainly not the small difference it seems to be.


kfz-betrieb Special

Trainings and More

Learning Is not just for School!Workshop employees‘ knowledge must be updated regularly

Supposedly the collective knowledge of mankind doubles every twelve years. Specialists have good cause to speak of the “knowledge explosion”. Dou-ble the double of the double will amount to quite a lot at some point. Frequently, things have already become obsolete and replaced by something new by the time we learn of them. Everyone notices it in private and business life alike. The best example is the rapid development in vehicle technology.

For LIQUI MOLY customers to remain up to date at all times where lubricants, additives and other chemical products in the workshop are concerned, the company took the reins in its hands early on and introduced measures. One of them is the “Academy”. This facility supports the people at the service front with diverse trainings and presenta-tions as well as practical trainings. It conveys cur-

▶ Motor and Gear Oils ▶ Industrial Vehicle Lubricants ▶ Additives ▶ Unglazing and Glazing Car Windows ▶ Cleaning Air Conditionings ▶ Oils and Additives For Gas Engines ▶ Professional Plastic Repair ▶ Car Body Sealants and Underfloor Protection ▶ Cleaning Injection Systems ▶ Industrial/Hydraulic Oils and Lubricants ▶ Workshop and Service Products ▶ Professional Composite Glass Repairs Brand-new and presented for the first time at

Automechanika 2012: The second largest LIQUI MOLY knowledge dispenser: “hazardous substance management”. It is a valuable support for every-one handling health and environmentally hazard-ous substances in everyday operations. As you may expect, that means nearly any person working in a car workshop. The old wisdom that “ignorance is no excuse for law” usually is spot on in this context. In particular smaller workshops have of-ten only dealt sporadically with things like a list of hazardous substances, operating instructions, safety datasheets or danger assessment, if at all. LIQUI MOLY offers its partners true help for self-help with its on-site instruction.

The team around Michael Bader provides the responsible workshop operator, among others, with important documents like operating instruc-tions in the scope of the hazardous substance management concept. It also explains about laws and regulations. You want to see an example? Have you ever heard of the new “GHS” before? No? You should have! The Globally Harmonised System (GHS) is the internationally consistent ver-sion of the warning notes known here as orange icons. In force since 2009, HGS introduces new icons step by step as they are used already on spray cans. Everyone using or storing them should know what these icons mean. You know… igno-rance…

rent knowhow, information on the products and useful tricks and skills for practice.

The trainings are offered by LIQUI MOLY Acad-emy employees adjusted to the customer‘s wishes. They are designed according to their suggestions and ideas. Where do they take place? Wherever you prefer: At the sales partner, the customer or the headquarters in Ulm. Just ask your relevant field service employee. He will see to everything else. The Academy currently offers the following courses:

Additional revenue with state-of-the-art service products: This is what LIQUI MOLY Academy teaches.

Training at LIQUI MOLY‘s site will include a lab visit for additional knowledge.

An all-new offer: Instructions in the scope of hazard-ous substance management.


Special

They say that “he who pays the piper calls the tune”. That‘s right, but all too often it remains a theoretic principle. After all, it‘s common to buy a product and leave it at that. Having a say about production in terms of improvement of practical benefits is something most can only dream of. This is different at LIQUI MOLY. The company introduced a big grassroots democracy project four years ago. The customers, i.e.… the car work shops, are allowed to “have a say”. The platform for this initially ex-perimental and now firmly established “elective right” is called “workshop council” by the Ulm com-pany. The council acts as a parliament and active partnership between producer and customer.

How can we efficiently improve our products and services? Christian Schwer, Key-Account Man-ager and “president of the parliament” at LIQUI MOLY says about the situation four years ago: “We asked the workshops this simple question and they were unable to answer.” Therefore, the medium-sized business set out on a new path and ap-proached its customers. Since 2008, selected work-shop owners/operators meet LIQUI MOLY “dele-gates” twice a year in a one-day workshop. “We selected the workshops with the field service staff. We wanted to include as many specialists as pos-sible to collect wide-spread feedback on all of our products and services,” Schwer explains how the 15 council members were chosen. The council in-cludes companies from different sections and serv-ice focuses. After all, LIQUI MOLY wanted to know

about what parts of the present offer could be improved and which new things should be added.

Each summit meeting starts with a look back upon the last one. The workshop people‘s repre-sentatives receive feedback on the suggestions and ideas provided the last time around. Current campaigns, new products or a new mar-keting concept will be pre-sented then, followed by debate. “We have had members tell us frankly to forget about something because it was nonsense,” council officer Schwer tells about the Swabian model for success. “That‘s just what we need; effective estimates and feedback from those who have to know from practice.”

One of the council members is Stefan Schlieck, owner of Auto Schlieck from Menden. The clever master car mechanic thought that being appointed a member of the “G15” Club was both an honour and an obligation. He and his colleagues are not only able to express praise and criticism towards their partner LIQUI MOLY. In contrast to other com-pany regulars‘ meetings, they can also enter their own ideas and have them put into practice. Quite a number of products and services in the LIQUI

MOLY offers originate in the commitment of the workshop council. For example, an automatic gear oil cleaner, the oil change sticker with the precise product designation instead of a general viscosity note or “small things” like the fact that the clothes

in the team shop are available in XXL as well now. Another example is visible online; LIQUI MOLY now has its own fan page on Facebook.

For the lubricant provider from Ulm, the adven-ture for “more democracy” has paid off in all re-spects. “In contrast to others, we are not consulted by corporate consultants, but by our customers or partners,” Schwer summarises. Wouldn‘t we like to see this kind of entrepreneurial understanding more frequently?

Grassroots democracy: The members of the workshop council meet regularly in order to put in their ideas and suggestions for the LIQUI MOLY brand world.

Workshop Council

Come in, Take Part!A dedicated forum enables workshops to actively contribute at LIQUI MOLY

A workshop council idea: the service

documentation for free workshops.


Outdoor Advertising Concepts

Known all over TownThis is how companies profit from a brand‘s reputation

“I got the advice from my architect,” Karl-Heinz Ott admits freely. Four years ago, he took over the lease of the free petrol station in Neu-Ulm‘s Turmstraße. Ott then went looking for a design concept or eye-catcher for it. He was not going to face the hard competition without logo and outdoor signals. The planning specialist‘s suggestion came right on time. “Take LIQUI MOLY!” And he did. Just a few weeks

after the modernisation, the facility was dressed up in the elegant colours of the Ulm lubricant special-ist. The petrol expert tells us that implementation went quickThanks to graphic designer Stephanie Geiger from LIQUI-MOLY‘s marketing department.

How did customers react to the slightly different petrol station outfit? “Some were surprised and asked us if LIQUI MOLY is also producing fuel now,“

Ott chuckles. He tells them no, but emphasizes that he can always offer them lubricants from the popular producer. He has a great selection of them available at all times. If they want a complete oil change instead of just buying their cars a drink, they get sent to the workshop across from the sta-tion. “You‘ll recognise it easily. It has this popular logo attached to it,” he says with a wink.

The outer façade of service operations can be designed nicely with the LIQUI MOLY design concept.


Outdoor Advertising Concepts

Known all over TownThis is how companies profit from a brand‘s reputation

“I got the advice from my architect,” Karl-Heinz Ott admits freely. Four years ago, he took over the lease of the free petrol station in Neu-Ulm‘s Turmstraße. Ott then went looking for a design concept or eye-catcher for it. He was not going to face the hard competition without logo and outdoor signals. The planning specialist‘s suggestion came right on time. “Take LIQUI MOLY!” And he did. Just a few weeks

after the modernisation, the facility was dressed up in the elegant colours of the Ulm lubricant special-ist. The petrol expert tells us that implementation went quickThanks to graphic designer Stephanie Geiger from LIQUI-MOLY‘s marketing department.

How did customers react to the slightly different petrol station outfit? “Some were surprised and asked us if LIQUI MOLY is also producing fuel now,“

Ott chuckles. He tells them no, but emphasizes that he can always offer them lubricants from the popular producer. He has a great selection of them available at all times. If they want a complete oil change instead of just buying their cars a drink, they get sent to the workshop across from the sta-tion. “You‘ll recognise it easily. It has this popular logo attached to it,” he says with a wink.

The outer façade of service operations can be designed nicely with the LIQUI MOLY design concept.


Special

LIQUI MOLY‘s Next Top Model

The lubricant expert regularly awards a price to the best of the best. This is not about wil-low-thin catwalk beauties, but many car workshops and petrol stations. Specifically those that have designed their outer ap-pearance in the red-blue-white of LIQUI MOLY‘s corporate iden-tity. They profit double: Of the brand popularity of the company from Ulm among end consum-ers, and of the awards for the best façade design concepts. The motto is: participation always pays off! The costs for the styl-ish corporate approach are as-sumed by LIQUI MOLY in full. If you want to turn your „ugly duckling“ into a pretty swan, ask your field service contact for more information.

Before-after effect: Petrol stations can be decked out in an advertising-efficient design with the LIQUI MOLY layout as well.

The final corporate design is determined by the workshop.

Even car dealers can differ clearly from competition with LIQUI MOLY.

A true eye-catcher in the elegant LIQUI MOLY coat: Tankstelle Ott now and then (small picture).


kfz-betrieb Special

Interview

We Do what Others Can‘tPeter Baumann, Head of Marketing at LIQUI MOLY, on the added value of a brand

Editor: What role does marketing play in our mod-ern multimedia society?Peter Baumann: A good product alone is no long-er enough for a company‘s economic success to-day. Nearly any industry has many good products today. The customer would hardly notice them without good marketing. It is important to create a kind of experience and, in the end, purchasing need, around an item or service.

This applies for car workshops and their products and services as well?I think that it is important for a traditional car workshop to work with popular branded products that represent quality and have a certain popular-ity. A workshop profits of transferring these at-tributes to itself and its work. It makes a difference if a company can show that it cooperates with company XY for some product group, e.g. with

LIQUI MOLY for the product group of lubricants. Our many marketing measures ensure that drivers connect a certain image and quality to the brand of LIQUI MOLY. A consumer entering a workshop working with a brand like LIQUI MOLY knows that he will receive good products and good service.

What are the benefits of car workshops working with the LIQUI MOLY brand?


Special

Interview

We Do what Others Can‘tPeter Baumann, Head of Marketing at LIQUI MOLY, on the added value of a brand

We have been able to anchor our brand in the heads of consumers. The next great advantage is that we individually design everything we offer by way of marketing and CI services together with our work-shop partners. One example for this is outdoor advertising. We have no standardised advertising panels in sizes of two metres, four metres and so on that only bear the name and logo of the product or system provider. We and our partners develop a design concept aligned precisely with his wishes and the local needs: With his name, logo and services on it. The workshop determines how things will look like. This can be trans-ferred to our entire brand concept with many sales-promoting meas-ures. We do not offer a finished solution from some construction kit system. While meaning high effort for us, it is just this effort and the commitment connected to it that makes us stand out from competition. We do not expect everyone to be the same, instead reinforcing the respective compa-ny‘s brand image.

LIQUI MOLY not only offers good products but also the correspond-ing tools for successful use and marketing. Where do the ideas for this come from?We believe that “marketing means thinking with the customer‘s head”. This means that many ideas, such as our returnable stainless steel oil containers or gear oil cabinet, were originally entered by our customers. If we ask them what they need to successfully work with LIQUI MOLY products and implement the answers accordingly, we are on the right track. We have a sales team of 100 on site at the workshops and dealers across Germany. We meet our customers as well as drivers there, taking up their statements, wishes and suggestions and implementing them in the corresponding measures. The LIQUI MOLY concept has been developed in this manner. Many can offer good products and a complete range. In addition, everything you need for working with these products successfully is of-fered by LIQUI MOLY only.

What makes a medium-sized business like LIQUI MOLY different from or better than a large group?We focus strongly on man power, in sales as well as in customer service. If I withdraw from Ger-many and have everything done via a call centre in Budapest, I may not be as close to my custom-ers and find it hard to put ideas and wishes into practice accordingly. Additionally, we have very short paths to decision, a flat hierarchy and great decision-making freedom. We can react to our customers‘ needs individually and quickly. This is something many large groups have forgotten to-day. We, and our customers in turn, profit from this.

You are pioneers in the oil containers already men-tioned. How important is environmental protection for car workshops today?In particular in the product group of lubricants and chemistry, car workshops hold great respon-sibility for storage or disposal. There is a great knowledge demand on the side of the companies. Therefore, we offer our partners consulting and the corresponding trainings as supporting meas-ures. Our help is not limited to theory. We know

from practice that some large lubri-cant providers have made things very simple for themselves regard-ing environmentally compatible disposal of their products in the last few years, leaving it to the workshop and merely issuing a “support cheque”. We, in contrast, have long been helping workshops with waste disposal by providing waste oil tanks and pumps as well as disposal contracts that we have entered into with the correspond-ing companies. This meets our and the workshop‘s responsibility. We offer concrete solutions. Our part-ners value this.

You offer many chemical products as well as services down to the windshield repair concept for the car trade in addition to classic lu-bricants. What is the LIQUI MOLY range made up of?A few years ago, we have decided to become a strategic partner to the workshops. This means that we strive for a full range. We want to enable our customers to pro-cure all products from the chemi-cally technical area from a single partner. If our customer faces new challenges in the automotive serv-ice business, our in-house research and development department will see to it that we can provide solu-tions quickly. Our Pro-Line cleaners for diesel particle filters are our

only current example for this. Workshops can usu-ally save their customers the costly DPF replace-ment with them.

Additives can solve problems as well. Are they sen-sible for workshops?Unfortunately, many providers in this product group make great promises and do not keep them. This is a defect that frightens off customers. Still, we are the market leader in this segment not only in Germany. This is because we only promise what our additives can actually technically keep. We are very trust-worthy and fact-oriented in development and testing and can show positive practical results to match. Both TÜV tests and examinations by APL, one of the most renowned test and develop-ment institutes of the automotive industry, have proven that. Workshops can profit in several ways of using additives. On the one hand, they have a sensible solution in particular for vehicles for which the alternative repair would be uneconom-ic for the customer. For example, this is the case when oil is lost. On the other hand, car workshops can achieve additional revenue by targeted use of additives in service and increase customer loyalty.

Personal informationPeter Baumann (52)

▶ Head of Marketing at LIQUI MOLY since 1993 ▶ Career: Trained as an industrial clerk, clerk at AEG in Ulm, in marketing at LIQUI MOLY since 1986

▶ Marital status: married, two children

Peter Baumann has been responsible for marketing at LIQUI MOLY since 1993.


kfz-betrieb Special

Trade Fairs

Right in the Middle Looking for and finding customer contact on many events

Do you agree that personal discussion cannot be replaced even in times of email and newsletters? So do we! That‘s why LIQUI MOLY provides infor-mation on new products and services as well as current campaigns not only in bits and bytes, but also live and in colour on the many trade fairs that it exhibits at around the world. Mathematically speaking, the LIQUI MOLY trade fair team is on a different event every week – in addition to the international sales partners‘ own appearances!

The clear number one in their trade fair cal-endar is the biennial Automechanika in Frank-furt am Main. The lubricant and additive profes-sionals presented themselves there in 2012 as well, setting another clear sign that while near-ly all renowned lubricant brands are regularly missing in Frankfurt – and elsewhere – the Ulm company has traditionally made an appearance and is striving to establish contacts within the car trade.

The LIQUI MOLY brand world is not all you can see on the regularly more than 400 m2 at Auto-mechanika. Personal meetings with sales consult-ants, field service employees and application technicians are often at the focus at the trade fair. You will learn what you always wanted to know but never quite dared to ask. Product presenta-tions introduce new service concepts and revenue generators to workshops. A current example is a cleaning system for diesel particle filters or a repair concept for composite glass panes. If you have always wanted to talk to a technician about a

specific problem, take the opportunity here. The cherry on this cake is the possibility of taking a picture at the stall with the attractive LIQUI MOLY lubricant girls. The trade fair professionals also provided the right background motif – a BMW of the Motorsport-Team and sponsoring partner Eng-stler. They just thought of everything!

Workshops may gather information first-hand on trade fairs like Automechanika.

LIQUI MOLY searches and finds contact with the trade fair audience in China as well. Always dedicated: The regional sales teams – here in Italy.

Who wouldn‘t want a picture with the LIQUI MOLY trade fair girls?


Awards

Let Us Introduce “Sir” LIQUI MOLYLIQUI MOLY has repeatedly made first place in consumer surveys

Being knighted by the Queen is a wonderful thing that only few may ever enjoy and that is recog-nised anywhere. We may not have anything quite like it in Germany, but we do have titles awarded by the people that inspire envy in others. This is the case with LIQUI MOLY. In 2012, the readers of large and popular specialist magazines “knighted” the lubricant specialist from Ulm four times. It raised the company onto a throne to recognise its services like those of none other.

The clearest win was that in a one-time Auto Bild survey. When asked who offered good car lubricants, 71 percent of the Auto-Bild readers answered with LIQUI MOLY. The editors say about this outstanding result, “It‘s not some great min-eral oil group winning here, but a small German company. Their very personal contact creates trust and popularity among the customers.” Follow-up Castrol made second rank at nearly 20 percentage points less. Interestingly enough, as many as 80,000 (!) readers took part in the elections of the best automotive producers and suppliers.

As often as the company from Ulm has been the hunter in the past, they became the hunted in 2012 – at least if looking at the “Best Brand” elections by Auto Motor und Sport. Again, they were able to keep a distance to their pursuers. “What company has products you are convinced of?” was the question that Auto Motor und Sport asked of its readers. 57.3 percent answered with

“LIQUI MOLY” awarding it first place in the cate-gory of lubricants and exactly nine percentage points more than in 2011. “The likeable dedication to the production site of Germany apparently hits

the right tone and is well received by the audi-ence,” the traditional Stuttgart magazine writes. This survey also saw the great competitors Castrol and Mobil on second and third place respectively. Ten percentage points more than in the previous year cemented a second place at 41 percent in the care product category as another outstanding result.

The same is reflected in the elections of the “Top brand 2011” in Auto Zeitung; its readers also liked the Swabian best. The magazine asked about the brands readers had good experience with. Among lubricants, “LIQUI MOLY” was the most frequent answer. In the care product category, the company was named second-most often after Sonax, as in the year before.

The success was continued, in chronological order, by the readers of “Motor Klassik” which also voted for LIQUI MOLY as best lubricant brand in the “Best Brand” survey. When asked “What com-pany has products you are convinced of?”, most readers preferred LIQUI MOLY to large groups. This result is special because it is an impressive premier success for the lubricant specialist. The survey took place in a new format and under a new name in 2012. After making second place at 35.5 percent of all votes in the 2009 “Future classics” reader survey, they achieved a full 61.2 percent this year. You can’t get knighted – or rather celebrated by the people – any better than that!

Four awards in a single year: Ernst Prost with the „Motor Klassik Award 2012“.


kfz-betrieb Special

Shop Concepts

An Online Shopping TourLIQUI MOLY supports workshops in self-marketing as well

A shopping tour used to require driving to the town centre or a shopping centre. Now, all you need to do is go online. LIQUI MOLY also enables special purchasing experiences online for work-shops. What is this about? Quite simply, it is about giving workshops the possibility of buying many things for everyday operations at lower costs and with an advertising-efficient logo. There is a shop for advertising media, one for leisure and work clothes and even a construction set that corporate partners can use for creating their own online ap-pearance.

Just “risk” a look at www.liqui-moly-teamshop.de. In addition to sports and leisure clothing for anyone, there is a great selec-tion of work clothes specifi-cally for car workshops, com-prising anything from T-shirts to sweat and polo shirts, trou-sers and jackets to coveralls. Nothing will keep you from meeting a perfect workshop dress code. The advertising media shop permits even smaller operations to dress their employees in a modern and consistent fashion. All products are applied with the LIQUI MOLY logo – as well as the customer‘s own design ele-ments like the workshop‘s scrip-

ture! Workshops can thus acquire corporate or leisure clothes designed to their wishes with a strong brand logo.

Another online offer is the “adver-tising media shop” (www.liquimoly.print-server.net). It is a logical sup-plement for the team shop. As the name suggests, the advertising me-dia shop offers many things that every company needs, from station-ary to license plate holders to the flag for the outdoor mast. These items are also branded with the Ulm brand‘s

logo. The main benefit is lower costs. The second one is that buying things from a single source usu-ally saves time, nerves and costs for the workshop as compared to purchasing from several sources.

Large or small, the number is unimportant. LIQUI MOLY gradually developed its online shop. This applies for items that are not directly subject-related to the Ulm company‘s own products and services. They include posters that indicate the change from summer to winter tyres and reminder cards for the pending general inspection. Any work-shop can pick the parts from the offer that it wants to use and that it thinks will help its business.

Since all good things come in threes, LIQUI MOLY has another online concept at hand: the self-made website. In cooperation with telecommunica-tions service provider 1&1, the company offers a construction kit with which car workshops can build a professional website in just a few steps. It‘s like an online calling card – text and design templates in the LIQUI MOLY style included. The idea is bound on the outdoor design concept (p. 24 a. 25). The declared objective of all online offers: Any service of the lubricant professional is to have a proven effect on the customer by image gain or, better yet, by generating more orders. No workshop can fault us for that, can they?

Sports and leisure clothes or coveralls: LIQUI MOLY provides workshops with the matching outfits.

The LIQUI MOLY offers a great selection to workshops in the areas of customer loyalty, organisation or other purposes.


Special

Sponsoring

Likable Brand AmbassadorsHelping others to increase our brand popularity

Sponsoring goes with perfect marketing like oil goes with an engine. It has a long tradition at LIQUI MOLY. In the past, the Ulm company sup-ported the TSV 1860 Munich in the Federal soccer league and ski jumping during the Four Hills Tour-nament. At the moment, the corporate logo deco-rates the dress of the basketball players of Rati-opharm Ulm and all bibs in the young athletes‘ area and the new arena. The basketball players advertise on national and international levels.

The same goes for motor sports. Sponsoring is almost an obligation for lubricant providers there, where LIQUI MOLY shows strong presence as well. The focus of automotive public relations is on the racing team of Franz Engstler, which successfully put itself in the spotlight with its BMW-3 racing car repeatedly in the touring car world champion-ship and the ADAC-Procar series. The LIQUI MOLY logo was involved every time, prominently shown to the racing sports fans in Europe, North and South America, Africa and Asia. As a quick and likeable brand ambassador, LIQUI MOLY cooper-ates with the “local heroes” of the motor sports scene on foreign markets to set effective accents.

The brand from Ulm differs from others in matters of sponsoring as well. For example, it acts on eye level with its partners. As a medium-sized company, LIQUI MOLY does not prefer the sports scene Goliaths but the Davids with the potential of showing up the big guys. Another example is the “soccer balls for all” campaign, where soccer clubs can order a ball package at a reduced price from LIQUI MOLY and will also received free sports clothes from the LIQUI MOLY team shop. This project is mainly targeted at amateur clubs and supports young talent spe-cifically as in basketball.

How do LIQUI MOLY partners profit from the sponsor activities of their lubricant partner? The answer is clear: A strong media presence or ap-pearance to the audience on site increases brand popularity. This in turn leads to consumers con-necting a product or company to a certain popu-larity and quality. Together, these aspects will ideally lead to desire that generates demand that service providers, such as car workshops, can profit from. This is why you advertise as well, isn‘t it? Why not join a strong brand? Think about it!as well as in Ratiopharm Ulm in basketball.

Sports conveys brand values in the LIQUI MOLY team Engstler at car races,


kfz-betrieb Special

The Team

The Many Faces of SuccessThanks to them, LIQUI MOLY is what it is today: Larger and more successful than ever

There are times in life when success is solely generated by hard “work”, for example in sports. In many other areas, however, such as art, culture, fashion and business, this is not always the case. You need creativity, free space and the possibility to make individual deci-sions. LIQUI MOLY not only considers these factors but also sets an example in its own actions.

The medium-sized lubricant and car chemistry specialist practices what many companies only talk about, which is hon-est and decent cooperation. This LIQUI MOLY principle is not only applied to-wards customers, but also towards sup-pliers and employees. “Co-entrepre-neurs,” as owner Ernst Prost calls them. As manager and representative of a slightly different “way of business life”, he has assembled a creative, powerful and highly successful team of now near-ly 600 employees. Strictly speaking, there are two teams: LIQUI MOLY in Ulm and MÉGUIN in Saarlouis. Each of them contributes to the group‘s success. See for yourself!

The executive level: LIQUI MOLY owner and CEO Ernst Prost (2nd from the right) with the heads of national sales, export and marketing.


kfz-betrieb Special

The Team

The Many Faces of SuccessThanks to them, LIQUI MOLY is what it is today: Larger and more successful than ever

There are times in life when success is solely generated by hard “work”, for example in sports. In many other areas, however, such as art, culture, fashion and business, this is not always the case. You need creativity, free space and the possibility to make individual deci-sions. LIQUI MOLY not only considers these factors but also sets an example in its own actions.

The medium-sized lubricant and car chemistry specialist practices what many companies only talk about, which is hon-est and decent cooperation. This LIQUI MOLY principle is not only applied to-wards customers, but also towards sup-pliers and employees. “Co-entrepre-neurs,” as owner Ernst Prost calls them. As manager and representative of a slightly different “way of business life”, he has assembled a creative, powerful and highly successful team of now near-ly 600 employees. Strictly speaking, there are two teams: LIQUI MOLY in Ulm and MÉGUIN in Saarlouis. Each of them contributes to the group‘s success. See for yourself!

The executive level: LIQUI MOLY owner and CEO Ernst Prost (2nd from the right) with the heads of national sales, export and marketing.


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Technical questions? The application technicians will know the answer!

The press department: Speaking tube and direct line to the media “environment”.

Not only attractive on trade fairs, but mainly at the customers‘: The LIQUI MOLY field service.

The export experts: They are mainly responsible for international calls for LIQUI MOLY products increasing in volume and frequency.


kfz-betrieb Special

The research team in Ulm makes sure that things are still running smoothly tomorrow. The logistics team: They know what it means to tackle things.

One of them is always close to you. That is why not all LIQUI MOLY field service employees are pictured here.


kfz-betrieb Special

The research team in Ulm makes sure that things are still running smoothly tomorrow. The logistics team: They know what it means to tackle things.

One of them is always close to you. That is why not all LIQUI MOLY field service employees are pictured here.


Special

The LIQUI MOLY sales department knows how lubrication works.

Large package bottling at MÉGUIN: Class meets mass. The lab team in Saarlouis: The lubricant detectives.

Small package bottling at MÉGUIN: Always the right measure.

“To the last drop” is the motto in the production department of LIQUI MOLY.

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WWW.LIQUI-MOLY.DE

LIQUI MOLY is the most popular oil brand in Germany. Our motor oils meet the approvals of all leading car manufacturers.

LIQUI MOLY GmbHJerg-Wieland-Str. 489081 Ulm, Germany

Tel.: +49 (0)731 / 1420-0Fax: +49 (0)731 / 1420-922E-Mail: [email protected]

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