Monthly Archives: October 2011

Douglas Stafford passes first stage of ISO9001

Douglas Stafford has passed the first stage of its ISO9001 certificate in recognition of its quality management systems. “We are delighted,” said Douglas Stafford’s Commercial Director John Fieldhouse. “’When Performance Is Everything’ is not only our ‘strap-line’ but also the ethos that underpins all Douglas Stafford products and services.

 

“As we commit to improving our clients’ performance, we also recognise the need to demonstrate effective quality management and commit to continual improvement of our own services and processes.”

 

Douglas Stafford has been working with large blue chip companies across a broad range of consumer markets for more than 20 years, delivering performance improvement programmes which help them measure, understand and improve their customers’ experiences.

 

These are achieved through highly cost-effective mystery shopping and customer surveys, and are supported by industry-leading training programmes and processes that are proven to improve standards of customer service. Douglas Stafford also runs a number of schemes to help companies improve customer retention and connect and reconnect with past customers and prospects. For further details go to:  www.douglasstafford.co.uk

Hyundai team visit Douglas Stafford and then take to the water

A team from Hyundai Motors UK and two leading dealerships visited Douglas Stafford’s offices last week and then took to the water aboard the company’s yacht Lady Diane.

 

The group – Rachel Thompson, Hyundai Aftersales Development Manager; Richard Harwood, Hyundai Sales Development Manager; Richard Hart, Group Sales Manager at Sewards and Jason Pickerill, Group Sales Manager at All Electric Garages – were accompanied by Douglas Stafford Project Manager Kathleen Field.

 

“There was not much wind on the day so we motored over to Cowes on the Isle of Wight for lunch but then on the way back the wind picked up and we managed to sail,” says Kathleen. “Everyone got involved and had a go and it was a thoroughly enjoyable day.”

 

Hyundai has been working with Douglas Stafford since 2008. For more information on how Douglas Stafford can help improve your business call 0800 783 1913 or go to www.douglasstafford.com

More MOT failures as motorists postpone servicing – leading to higher long term costs

More and more motorists are putting off having their cars regularly serviced resulting in increased MOT failures, according to an industry expert. Bill Duffy, chief executive of Halfords Autocentres, told Motor Trader magazine that the MOT failure rate has increased from 28 per cent five years ago to 41.6 per cent today. “The MOT is a very good basic value for money check,” said Mr Duffy. “It does not cover everything on the car, that’s what the service is for but it is a good health check.”

 

It’s likely that hard-pressed motorists are putting off servicing to save money, but it’s a short-sighted approach that risks their safety and may cost more in repairs later. Douglas Stafford’s Customer Contact Centre advisors can speak to past and present customers on behalf of dealerships, creating more appointments and reminding clients about their service or MOT dates.

 

“Talking to customers regularly is essential for retaining business and reminding customers that their MOT or service is due,” says Douglas Stafford’s Contact Centre Operations Manager Madelaine Cook. “By contacting customers and booking appointments on behalf of our clients we are helping them to maintain business. It is a very effective way to help their customers stay legal and keep their cars regularly serviced.”

 

For more information on how Douglas Stafford can help you contact your past and present service and MOT customers, please call Geoff 0800 783 1913 or email: [email protected].

Peter Cooper staff celebrate high ranking in Volkswagen’s customer satisfaction results

Peter Cooper’s Shirley dealership has been ranked in the top 10% in the country for its excellent customer service. Staff are delighted to have gained such recognition for their efforts. “They have all really worked incredibly hard to achieve this ranking and now it’s all about keeping it,” said Darren Cooper, managing director of the Peter Cooper Volkswagen Group. “The feedback we receive direct from customers reinforces Volkswagen’s own results and we are thrilled to be part of this success.”

 

The results were based on performance in several categories including how welcoming the staff are, their honesty and the overall customer satisfaction for the Shirley dealership. “This is a total team effort,” said Phil Brine, sales manager at Peter Cooper Shirley. “Everyone at Peter Cooper Shirley Road is involved with customer care and all feedback is shared with all staff so that best practice can be put in at all times.”

 

Douglas Stafford is proud to have been working with Volkswagen and its network of more than 200 dealerships for the last six years. For more information on our Mystery Shopping services, and how they can help improve the performance of your dealers, please contact us on 0800 783 1913 or by email at [email protected].

Event weekend success for Bristol Street Motors Leicester

Douglas Stafford has helped another dealership to achieve great results over a recent event weekend. Bristol Street Motors Leicester, part of the Vertu Motors Group, asked Douglas Stafford’s customer contact centre team to follow up a mailer containing details of the offers they were proposing during their event weekend. Douglas Stafford’s expert automotive customer service advisors called the customers on Bristol Street’s behalf to give them more details about the offers and book appointments as required.

“The follow-up calls were a great success,” says Douglas Stafford Project Manager Philippa Croucher. “We managed to book a lot of appointments and consequently Bristol Street had a very busy weekend.”

“Douglas Stafford made a real difference to the success of the event weekend,” says Bristol Street Motors Leicester’s Mark Flear. “Their calls on our behalf were very professional and they succeeded in helping us to convert the past and present customer data we had into actual sales which was just what we needed.”

For more information on how Douglas Stafford’s customer contact centre can help make your sales event a success, please contact Geoff on 0800 783 1913 or by email at [email protected].

Dealer group sees great results through working with Douglas Stafford

Leading Sussex dealer group Becks has been getting great results through working with Douglas Stafford’s specialist automotive customer contact centre team. Douglas Stafford is running an aftersales retention programme and a showroom appointment project for Becks, aimed at increasing both its service and MOT business and encouraging more customers into Becks’ showrooms. Both schemes are working very effectively for the company, which has dealerships in Eastbourne, Brighton and Burgess Hill and employs 90 staff.

 

For the MOT and service retention programme Douglas Stafford’s customer service advisors have been contacting some of Becks’ former service customers on the dealerships’ behalf and have been helping to bring many of these lapsed customers back to the business.“The programmes are working really well for us,” says Regional Director Brian McAlister. “We don’t have enough staff to follow up on all our past customers so we asked Douglas Stafford to handle that side of things for us – and they are doing a very good job of it.”

 

For the showroom appointment project, Douglas Stafford team members have been talking to customers who previously bought new or used cars from Becks and have been making appointments for many of them to come into the showroom to discuss part-exchange or new purchases. “The showroom appointment programme is proving to be very successful,” says Mr McAlister. “Douglas Stafford’s staff phone our customers on behalf of the Becks Group and they are very courteous. We look upon them to work as another arm of our business.”

 

For more information on how Douglas Stafford’s customer contact centre can help you grow your business, please contact Geoff Osborne on 0800 783 1913 or [email protected].

Survey shows how crucial it is to keep customers loyal

The need for car manufacturers to continue to work hard at keeping their customers happy has been highlighted by a new survey, which reveals that less than 50% of motorists plan to remain loyal to their current car brand. German manufactures Audi and BMW have the highest levels of loyalty among their customers (68% and 65% respectively) according to Trend Tracker. Ford was third followed by Mercedes-Benz and Land Rover/Range Rover. However, the survey also revealed that 16% of owners of premium brands are considering a volume brand for their next purchase with Volkswagen, MINI and Toyota the most likely beneficiaries of this shift.

 

“This may reflect a need for affluent car buyers to make savings in the current state of the UK economy,” said Robert Macnab, Trend Tracker’s lead analyst. “It certainly indicates that large numbers of people are intending to spend less than they have done on a new car in more prosperous times.” Marketing Week magazine has reported that the number of motorists planning to buy a new car in the next three to five years has fallen from 32% in May 2010 to 21%, following the increase in VAT to 20% in January 2011.

 

“There’s a clear message here,” says Douglas Stafford Chief Executive Nigel Cook. “And that is that customer retention is key to having a successful business. There are new customers out there but they are costly to attract and it is much more cost effective to keep your existing ones. So looking after your existing customers and making sure they come back and buy from you again is crucial to the success of your business – and that goes for whatever product you are selling.

 

“Keeping in touch with your customers and getting them back to buy again is vital. Companies spend a lot of money on marketing for new business and sometimes they don’t focus enough on communicating with existing, past and lapsed customers. If companies communicate with them on a regular basis they are much more likely to get repeat business – rather than customers going off to a competitor. Companies who get their communication with clients right on a regular basis will consistently outperform their competitors.”

 

Douglas Stafford has a specialist customer contact centre and operates a range of schemes to help its clients to connect and reconnect with past and present customers and prospects, maximising sales potential and building client loyalty. “A lot of companies haven’t got the resources to keep in regular contact with their customers themselves so they should look at outsourcing this aspect of their business,” adds Nigel Cook. “They might have a budget for marketing aimed at new customers but they should put some resources into communicating with their past clients and give them a reason to come back. That is where our contact centre comes in – and it is proving to be very effective for our clients.”

 

For more information about Douglas Stafford’s Customer Contact Centre and how it can help your business connect with your past and present customers please call Geoff Osborne on 0800 783 1913 or email: [email protected]

Dealing with complaints effectively is vital

A new survey has revealed that retailers receive 166 million complaints each year, 82% of which are about bad customer service. And, according to the survey conducted by price comparison website Kelkoo, 83% of complainers are likely to contact a retailer’s head office and 14% would use social media.

 

“This survey once again highlights how vital it is for companies to have high levels of customer service and deal with complaints effectively,” says Douglas Stafford Chief Executive Nigel Cook. “Putting customer service at the heart of a business is essential for customer retention, loyalty and business growth.” Nigel says it is often not the original cause for complaint that particularly irks customers, it is how the complaint is handled. “In any business things sometimes go wrong but it’s how subsequent complaints are handled that is crucial,” he says.

 

“Businesses need to learn how to deal with complaints effectively. Handling a complaint well can turn a bad situation into a good situation and can often mean that the customer goes away happy; but if you handle it badly you can easily lose a customer. Companies obviously also need to look at the reason why a complaint has been made in the first place and learn how to improve their procedures and customer service levels so that they reduce the number of complaints.”

 

Nigel says businesses could reduce the number of complaints to head office and save money. “Measurement, monitoring, training and development needs to be done on handling customers’ complaints at store level,” he says. “Staff are trained to sell and demonstrate products but do companies spend enough time on complaint handling training? In many cases I don’t think they do and it is certainly something they should think about.

 

“We do product performance monitoring and mystery shopping all the time to help companies know how effective their staff are at selling and interacting with customers, but we are less likely to be asked to mystery shop complaint handling. This is certainly an area they should be looking at.”

 

For more information on how Douglas Stafford can help improve your business, please visit ww.douglasstafford.com.

Sailing trip extended for keen sailors

Staff from The Co-Operative Motor Group took to the water aboard Douglas Stafford‘s yacht Lady Diane for a day’s sailing on the Solent.

 

Accompanied by mystery shopping company Douglas Stafford’s Client Relationship Director Jason Jeggo,  the group sailed from Portsmouth and planned to stop off for lunch at Cowes on the Isle of Wight – but everyone was enjoying the sailing so much that lunch was skipped in order to get a couple of extra hours in on the water.

 

“It was a great day and without exception everyone found it thoroughly enjoyable,” says Gary Dighton, Site General Manager at The Co-operative Motor Group in Nottingham. “A few of the team had never been on a boat before but I think we’ve discovered that we have some budding sailors emerging in the motor group.”

 

“It was a fantastic experience – I just want to do it again,” says Renault and Suzuki Mansfield General Manager Vincent Flynn. “The skipper, Lee, and Jason were great hosts and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day.”