Group turnover has reached £150m and new and used car sales have hit 4,500 units.
Managing director Gareth Williams put the winning formula down to passion from staff, as well as recruiting the right people and managing them correctly.
“What is true of Wakefield is they do things with a certain amount of pizzazz and style and bags of energy. I think this ultimately won them the award.”
So how have other showrooms in the 12-dealership network reacted to the winning Wakefield bid?
ChryslerJeepDodge and Hyundai dealership Hatfields York is slowly but steadily turning things around following its acquisition by the group over two years ago.
Jon Bee, GM York dealer principal, said: “Turnover has risen by 40 per cent from £5m to £8m in two years. This year we are looking to make a modest profit. Our endeavours to stay profitable are the same as everybody else's. Its about the longer game.”
Sales are spilt evenly between new and used cars at £3.5m each and a further £1m in revenue comes from aftersales.
The showroom sells 140 new Hyundai cars per year and 100 from the Chrysler Jeep Dodge brands, along with 250 used cars.
Staff training
The firm provides new staff with three core training courses through an external training company.
Product tests are taken in-house. “It's about selling cars our way,” said Williams. He added around 100 days each year are focussed on training at the dealership.
Bee said that newspapers were an outgoing recruitment tool, while the internet was packed with so many job sites that it became confusing which one to opt for.
“We have relied on making some appointments through head hunting and using agents, as is the case throughout the industry.”
He said there were different ways of selling different car brands. “Someone who sells Renaults is not the same person that you are looking for to sell Jeep. We look for the fire in the belly!”
He said recruitment was not limited to people with industry experience. “If someone comes from Currys and is suitable for the sales environment that's fine.”
Marketing focus
The group spends £75,000 on marketing every year, primarily on the internet and direct marketing.
The Hatfields website was redeveloped earlier this year and is now linked to each respective manufacturer's website. Additionally, Yahoo and Google advertorials are taken out at group level.
Williams highlighted the importance of database management to ensure contact with customers. “You have to be smarter now – database management is the key to our success in promoting loyalty. We are constantly sending out contact to the customers, to make sure they don't feel disenfranchised.”
Up to 80 per cent of Hatfields' customers, are from York and the surrounding area.
Bee said: “The city is a magnet, we get a good amount of footfall. There is good loyalty.”
The dealership sponsors charities and a rugby team and management arranges promotional days at public venues such as shopping centres.
Williams said the group relies on the manufacturers to initially attract customers through television advertising. “We have to make sure we are ready for that enquiry.”
Sales and aftersales
The group has recruited a business manager specifically to oversee and push finance sales towards a 50 per cent target.
The York dealership is currently returning finance penetration of 47 per cent.
Nearly-new cars are bought from manufacturer auctions and are up to five years old as manufacturer guidelines demand cars are retailed within their warranty period.
Hatfields York boasts an impressive 80 per cent part-exchange rate. “We don't turn anything down. Even a washing machine is a part-exchange if it has value!” Williams said.
Four out of five part-exchanges are disposed of at auctions, with the remainder retailed or sold
to dealers.
But Bee said there was little profit in the part-exchanges, which were done primarily to ensure customer satisfaction.
“We do it to break-even. You have to convince the customer that the price is fair, else they won't do business with us.”
Used vehicles are almost entirely Chrysler Jeep Dodge or Hyundai, although 5 per cent are alternative brands.
“We believe in the purity of the brand. If a brand product is there, we will probably do better with it,” said Williams.
Aftersales
The workshop department in York is booming, with up to £42,000 per month in labour sales. This includes servicing, warranty repairs, MoTs and internal preparations. The target is to reach £50,000 per month within a year.
There are five technicians, with five work bays and an MoT bay. The dealership is also an authorised repairer for Mercedes-Benz.
All used cars are fully serviced before retailing. Currently appointments are being booked four days in advance. The firm has appointed a group service and parts director to steer this side of the business.
“Growth has been phenomenal in the past year. We now have
60 per cent of our service reminders converted in to service bookings – this figure was 40 per cent at the beginning of the year.”
Williams said that providing servicing for Mercedes had proved popular with customers and improved customer satisfaction.
“We are second in the country in aftersales customer satisfaction here for Mercedes-Benz,” claimed Williams.
“It's because there is a total disassociation between product concern and service concern.”
The dealership also claims to have a decent penetration in add on sales – Supa Guard is at 44 per cent of sales, and Gap insurance at almost 60 per cent.
Expansion
While the group is concentrated in the north, it bought a Jaguar dealership in Worcester in December last year. Williams said the group was considering branching out in the future. “Different manufacturers have different ways of selling cars and approaching customers.”
He added: “We are still expansively minded, probably within the same franchises we hold now.”
Bee has a monthly business review meeting with ChryslerJeepDodge to assess volumes, sales and plans. He said manufacturers have had a tough time in the past year and have made extra effort with the dealers. He added 90 per cent of conversations were about new cars – the used cars business is mainly left to the dealership to manage.
Williams is the chairman of the Hyundai franchise board so is deeply involved with the Korean manufacturer.
“The relationship is paramount. There are three things that fundamentally matter: people, product and price. You have to get on with people, you have to have faith in the product and you have to make sure its priced right.”
While acknowledging that any business relationship has highs and lows, he said regular contact and interaction is vital to keeping all parties aware of plans and developments.
“Manufacturer relationships are everything, because if they break down you lose that vital ingredient which is the enthusiasm and belief that you have in the franchise.”
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