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Our best relationships with customers are the ones where they ask for our honest opinion (and they actually mean it!). Honest conversations rely on a strong relationship being in place, but this can take time to build. They don’t start once a contract is signed. They start from the very first meeting. From that very first interaction, people are deciding whether they trust our judgement. Not just our product. Trust comes from showing early on that: • We understand their business • We’ll do what we said we would • We understand their pressures and why they do things the way they do • We’re prepared to have an opinion That trust also creates permission to challenge or say “there may be a better way to do this.” At Loop, our customer relationships all run for years. That longevity doesn’t happen by accident. It’s because we want the right things to happen for their business. Interestingly, the longer we work with customers, the more they expect that challenge. They value it. Because they know it’s grounded in context, history and experience. Good customer service, in my experience, isn’t just responsiveness or delivery. It’s earning trust early. And then being willing to use it responsibly.

I didn’t build this bike. I could have spent months researching components, designing the frame, sourcing parts and figuring out how to put it all together. But I realised buying one that had already been designed, tested and refined over years would be faster, lower risk and almost certainly better in the long run. The same applies to software. I often hear OEMs debating whether to build a solution in-house or via a third party supplier, or buy a specialist SaaS platform. The reality is that building the first version is usually the easy part. The real challenge is everything that comes afterwards: security, maintenance, scalability, support, integrations, bug fixes, compliance and the constant stream of enhancements that users expect. A specialist SaaS provider spreads those investments across multiple customers, meaning every customer benefits from continuous innovation and improvements that would be difficult and expensive for a single organisation to justify on its own. Your software should support your competitive advantage—not become the thing that consumes it. Sometimes the smartest investment isn’t building something yourself. It’s buying the thing that’s already been built by people who do nothing else.

𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗘𝗠’𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗻𝘂𝘀. 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟵𝟭% 𝘁𝗼 𝟵𝟵%. We have a customer that achieved exactly that by running their sales volume bonus through Loop. In a tough market, a margin or volume bonus scheme can be effective. The reward matters. But an incentive only works when the OEM can launch it quickly, adapt it as the market changes and give dealers a clear view of what they need to do. That combination is what turns a bonus from a quarterly retrospective announcement into something the network can act on every day. Here's what I think made the difference. 𝟭. 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗱, 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘆 Not at the end of the quarter. In real time. Give the dealer clear visibility of where they stand and they can go after it. 𝟮. 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗹𝘆 OEMs that can get a new incentive in front of their network quickly and adapt when things change are the ones seeing results. That used to take weeks or even months. 𝟯. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 Not buried in a document from months ago. Clear, trackable, always there. When dealers know exactly what's expected, they can work to deliver. Most OEMs and dealer networks are working towards the same goal. The challenge is giving both sides a clear, shared view of the incentive, while allowing the OEM to respond quickly as market conditions change. That is what gives a bonus programme the best chance of delivering.

Caps, catchbacks, exclusions, thresholds. Most bonus programs carry more rules than any dealer can reasonably track. When program terms are hard to interpret, participation and performance can suffer. Loop turns even the most complex parameters into one clear view, helping OEMs drive dealer action and get more from every incentive program.

By the time reconciliation comes around, it’s too late to change the result. Giving dealers a clear, daily view of where they stand helps OEMs drive the right actions while there’s still time to influence performance. Loop shows every dealer their bonus progress and the specific actions that move it, helping OEMs increase engagement, close performance gaps, and get more from every incentive program.

Priorities shift through the year, but sales volume bonus rules often can't keep up. When every change to tiers, weightings or multipliers means waiting on a development team, the moment to influence behaviour has usually passed. Loop lets you set your own tiers, weightings and double-counts, and adjust them the same day you decide.