MT Interview: Beechwood Mazda

Following Motor Trader Awards success, Beechwood MD Rob Wood talks about making tough changes and still putting the customer first during the pandemic.

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Beechwood Mazda and Suzuki won the Motor Trader Industry Awards Most Improved Dealership Award in December 2020, with an entry that showed bravery and willingness to change through accepting the advice of others.

A company that was originally founded 50 years ago, and in its time seen many franchises come and go, it most recently has concentrated on Mazda and Suzuki franchises. It posted good CSI results for both, but as managing director Rob Wood approached his fiftieth birthday, he decided to have a hard look at how Beechwood was working, challenging old assumptions, and seeing if things could be done better.

He wanted an outsider’s view and hired consultant Ben Rambaut.

This led to many front of house and back office changes and the departure of long-standing employees, some of whom Wood regarded as friends. The new approach also included a new parts manager who “revolutionised” component sales and secured a contract with Auto Windscreens that has proved to be a useful profit generator.

For the Motor Trader Awards, the judging panel noted Beechwood’s willingness to headhunt the talent it needed, including a service manager who succeeded a veteran of twenty years and radically changed how the firm’s technicians worked, increasing their productive time. Beechwood’s workshop is now booked up four weeks in advance.

Other positive changes include a healthy increase in F&I sales, thanks to the recruitment of an ex-Jaguar business manager.

Nationally, the brands Beechwood represents have found trading conditions tough, but it has bucked the trend for both with increased sales and aftersales penetration.

In the wake of Beechwood’s success, and eventual win of the Most Improved Dealership Awards, Motor Trader caught up with Wood to find out more about the business, how he approached change, and how it has faired over the past year.

An evolving family business

Wood told Motor Trader how his father set up the business over 50 years ago, and within that time the dealer has represented 10 different franchises. Wood said: “When my father retired, we bought the business, around 20 years ago. Sadly, the family lost my younger brother in a car accident when my father was approaching retirement age, otherwise I do not think he would ever have retired.

“The company was bigger in those days, with a dozen dealerships under different franchises. Following my father’s retirement, we sold most of the sites and were just left with a Saab and a Subaru dealership. We then decided to sell the Subaru dealership as well, a few years later.

“When we moved on from Saab, we survived for a few years with used cars before Mazda became available in Derby.

“We gladly took the opportunity. A few years later we were approached to take on the Suzuki franchise in Derby as well.”

Beechwood won Most Improved Dealership but was in no way a failing dealership beforehand. In fact, Wood told of how it was performing well in all its manufacturers tables, but there was, as always, room for improvement.

He said: “Around two years ago, we were sitting in the top five on every league table that Mazda had, but our return on investment was not good enough. Mazda felt that we were spending too much money. We were giving the best customer service possible but spending too much money.

“Mazda linked us up with someone who would normally be sent into a business that is floundering. We certainly were not floundering, but we had the opportunity to go from being a good dealer to a great dealer.

“In all our time open we have never lost money. We made money every year, but the return investment was always around 1%. I went into the process eyes wide open, and it was quite nice to be able to bounce ideas off somebody external, as before this I could only really speak to my father about it. The report came back, and it recommended that all my managers be let go, even though they had been with me for 20 years.”

Although shocked, Wood decided to press on and do what was best for the business. He said: “So, we introduced more intense daily operating controls, among other ideas. Now, we are currently the number one Mazda dealer in the country and have been for six months. We have the highest customer satisfaction, and we are also the highest CSI scorer in sales. The business has done phenomenally well, we made about 30% more profit last year than we did the year before, even with COVID-19.

“The report was a bit of a eureka moment, and we thought 1% is just not an acceptable return on investment with the amount of effort we have put in. We now without a doubt have the best management team we have ever had. In fact, the whole team is the best we have had. Your business is only as good as your weakest member of staff.”

Dealing with COVID

Beechwood is a dealership that puts a lot of emphasis on its staff and their interaction with customers and prides itself on its customer care. So, in times where that staff to customer contact is limited, how has it managed?

Wood said: “Like most people, we have placed many staff on furlough, but the management team have stayed in the dealership for most of the time. But we have given a service that we are pleased with. And we are building back in, as from the first of March, we have a team of four technicians, where before we only had three. This increase is to deal with March registrations, which is traditionally a busy time. And, by the end of March, I would like to be back to six technicians.

“We are also looking to bring back more administration staff, because if you are not careful, you can accept what is the new normal and forget to keep building. You do have to be careful. We need our admin staff to help the dealerships retain a flow of customers.

“If you are not calling customers to say their service is due, they will not come, or they’ll leave it to the last minute or potentially go somewhere else locally. We cannot get into a position where we are losing business because we have slipped from normal business practice. We just need to adapt, and it is very fluid process.

“And the staff want to come back. I have not had one member of staff who has not said, ‘great, I want to come back’ when asked.”

The online element

Beechwood, like all dealerships, has pushed hard online this year. However, although it now shows all of its used and new stock online, with buying functionality, Wood is not convinced.

He said: “This year has shown the importance of having stock online and a good website, and I think those two elements will now always have a place. But we are very much a people’s business. I do not believe that we will be selling more cars online than in the dealership. We have the functionality on our website so that people can buy a car online, but I do not think it has been particularly successful. We very much want to look after people, and I do not think that the personal touch of a dealership will ever change.”

Online accelerates

“However, all our stock at both dealerships is now online, fully photographed. We are very much on top of that. But I still believe that the way forward is with is with personnel, no matter how well you can describe or photograph a vehicle. For me, I think if we still give the best service, we will always be okay. And that has always been our philosophy, even in hard times.”

Over the past six months Wood said that Beechwood is around 60% down on what it would normally sell. But it has adapted as best it can.

Wood said: “One of the main things is that we have not missed any customer inquiries. Every single customer inquiry I know for a fact has been looked after. However, likely because of the service we have given in the past, we have got a huge number of customers in a file that want to be contacted within 48 hours of the dealerships reopening, because they do not want to buy a car until they have driven it, seen it, touched it.

“Whether or not other dealers have sold more cars online, I do not honestly know. But it is not something that I personally enjoy because I prefer building that rapport with the customers. The service we give is what it is all about.”

There have been times in the past year where dealerships have been able to open. During those times Beechwood has looked to make its customers feel safe in its premises.

“Looking at Google reviews, particularly the early days, there were around 20 people who commented on how safe the environment felt and how we took the restrictions seriously. Everybody who comes into the dealership is offered a mask if they have not got one, we offer hand sanitiser and have plastic guards everywhere so there is no face-to-face contact.

“We also put vehicle keys into a plastic folder and all the new cars are sanitised in the showroom. We took the used cars away so people could not go around them. We asked customers to organise a viewing if they were interested in a used car.”

Looking forward

And for the year coming, Wood remains positive. He said: “I am happy with what we have done. To be honest with you, we are flying, bizarrely.

“Although we have been shut, we are already 50% to our quarter target for Mazda. We are not doing so well with Suzuki, but I think there is a reason for that.

“Our figures show that most people who have bought a car from Mazda are under 50 years old. However, the clientele that we have with Suzuki is of a much older average age.

“So, those people have perhaps not wanted to venture out during these times, which is understandable. But you could argue that they will come back the quickest once this is all over, so I can see there being a bigger bounce back for Suzuki.

“We are always positive. It has been tough, but I think the government has done a phenomenal job in the difficult position. They have helped a lot of dealerships, but there is an argument that they could have kept dealerships open because they are big spaces with high roofs. And the motor retailer industry is a big contributor the economy.”