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City West Commercials dealer principal Graeson Clarke reveals how he sets high standards for customer service in this special Dealer Insight sponsored by AutoProtect.
The van market is becoming ever more competitive and for dealers who cover the commercial vehicle sector traditional levels of service are no longer enough – businesses expect their vans to be on the road at all hours of the day and night.
Manufacturers have responded with new, bespoke van centres, offering out-of-hours servicing and new standards of customer service right across the sales and aftersales departments.
Setting the standard for this new breed of centre is City West Commercials (CWC), the Mercedes-Benz LCV and HGV group for south-west England, with dealerships in Avonmouth, Bristol, Exeter and Roche in Cornwall, and a fleet customer base of more than 10,000.
The CWC mission statement is simple but compelling: “to be the definitive commercial vehicle partner for the south west.” The group has certainly always sought to provide a one-stop shop for commercial fleet needs. Alongside new and used sales extending across the entire Mercedes-Benz van and truck line-up, the firm seeks to provide a complete service and maintenance package to its customers.
The latest evidence of this is the 24-hour garage service recently launched at its Avonmouth headquarters site. The initiative allows business users to drop off their pre-booked vehicles at the end of the working day, and collect them, fully serviced, at the start of the next. This service is offered right across the Mercedes-Benz commercial van range and extends to the heaviest trucks. Customers vary from local SMEs to large national fleets and according to CWC dealer principal Graeson Clarke, all are treated equally.
“The out-of-hours service we offer is as important for the small and medium-sized businesses as it is for the big fleet, all of whom can lose custom and suffer financially from having vehicles off the road during the working day,” he said.
“We feel that everyone should benefit from these customer-centric service offerings.”
The initiative sees the introduction of extended opening hours of 7am and 11.30pm which enables business users to deal with servicing needs outside of normal hours.
The group has also launched a Service to You programme which includes a mobile servicing programme using a five-strong fleet of vans and experienced technicians that can provide servicing at locations specified by the customer, with a response time of up to three hours.
The vans carry diagnostic equipment for all makes and models and a parts stock for Mercedes light and heavy commercial vehicles, while the technicians boast 100 years of industry experience between them, half of this specifically with Mercedes-Benz.
All this is provided by a still young company. CWC was formed in 2009 with Clarke drawing upon 15 years experience in the industry, initially in financial and then the operational roles, to rebrand a former commercial vehicle dealership that had gone into administration.
Launching the business during the economic downturn, Clarke worked hard to build up a local customer base by providing initiatives to help local van and truck users grow their business, reflected in strong sales figures for CWC.
“As the Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicle partner for the South West we pride ourselves in representing a brand known for quality and efficiency. In every aspect of our day-to-day operations we concentrate on our customer-centric focus.
“We really try to be there for our customers every step of the way. The importance of keeping vehicles fully operational is recognised by us both in our opening hours and service offerings and in the high levels of Mercedes-Benz training that technicians undertake to ensure that service, diagnosis and rectification can be done in a timely manner.”
From the outset the group pledged its commitment to developing and nurturing its workforce, both in and out of the workshop, which Clarke believes sets the company apart from its competitors and produces a team that is dedicated to their clients.
A strong team ethos is promoted across the business with all managers encouraged to have an open-door policy, being ready to listen and welcome contributions and suggestions from staff.
An advocator of promoting local talent and creating employment opportunities within the region, CWC has also been running a successful apprenticeship programme as part of the Mercedes-Benz Searching for the Stars of Tomorrow initiative.
Two local young people taken on in September have expanded the total apprentice intake with CWC to five, with further growth expected next year. Two apprentices who have recently completed the two-year programme have both been employed as full-time technicians.
The company is also bidding to actively increase its staff generally, with 12 new starters in the process of being taken on to complement the existing 150-plus employees across the four centres.
CWC believes its efforts to serve local business is supporting the strong growth currently being seen in the south-west region, while the company itself is seeing fundamental growth thanks to a number of new contracts secured in recent months. This comes at a time when Mercedes-Benz is seeing record rises in its van sales – at the half year point for 2014 sales of Citan had grown by 45%, Vito was up by 12% and Sprinter Van rising by 23%.
As CWC manages this growth it is also planning future initiatives to keep it ahead of the competition.
“We are entering a very exciting time for the business. Our 24 hour service facility is just the first of several developments coming out of City West Commercials over the coming months.”
Andrew Charman
