Monthly Archives: February 2012

Can Motorcycle Dealerships improve service levels?

In a recent Motorcycle News article, service levels in both motorbike and car dealerships were compared and the experiences turned out to be very different. “Maybe times aren’t so tough at bike dealers these days. My mate took his Audi into a garage he’d not visited before for a fault to be sorted. While it was being fixed he wandered down the road to a deserted bike showroom,” reported Motorcycle News. “An obvious target customer – middle aged male with a clear interest for bikes. However, the four salesmen did nothing. Even when he walked upstairs to the deserted clothing and accessory department, he still went unnoticed.  Back at the Audi garage, the fault was fixed an hour and 40 minutes early, the car had been washed and when he got in, on the passenger seat was a goodie bag with hand warmers, torch, de-icer and scraper, gloves and various wipes. Good to know the bike business is doing so well they don’t have to bother with things like this.”

 

Douglas Stafford has been providing performance improvement including mystery shopping services for over twenty two years and Audi has been a client of the company’s over the past eight. Knowing what your customers think about your service levels is vital in today’s competitive marketplace. Your customers need to receive the highest possible level of service so that they not only buy from you but they share their positive experience with friends and colleagues.

 

To discuss how Douglas Stafford can help your business, give Jason a call on 02392 830 011 or contact him at [email protected] 

Neil Williams, Field Operations Manager at Douglas Stafford

Neil Williams has been promoted to the role of Field Operations Manager. Neil has been working within the Field Scheduling team over the past two years and has gained excellent hands on experience in all aspects of mystery shopping and field operations. “Neil has shown a great aptitude for working on complex programmes. I am sure you will all join me in congratulating Neil on his promotion,” said Ben Sargeant, Operations Director at Douglas Stafford, when announcing the news.

 

Douglas Stafford is one of the leading performance specialists in the UK, providing mystery shopping and other performance related initiatives to many national and international organisations including Audi UK, Vodafone, Persimmon Homes and Kwik Fit to name just a few.

 

Field Operations is a crucial part of Douglas Stafford’s activities. This is where the many ongoing mystery shopping programmes, all individually tailored for each client, are planned and matched with Douglas Stafford’s large network of highly trained mystery shoppers.

 

For more information on how Douglas Stafford can help you, through market research, mystery shopping or via our customer contact centre, please go to www.douglasstafford.com or contact us on 0800 7831913.

Are we there yet?

Over the past twelve months it is safe to say that due to the economy, businesses have had somewhat of a rough journey. Jim Meldrum, sales manager for First Response Finance, thinks now is the time to push through the fear of failure and start putting business growth plans into place. “Are we nearly there yet?” is the question kids always ask on a long never ending journey…I think I have been hearing the business version of that very same question over the last few weeks and it’s “Will 2012 be better than 2011?”. This question has been asked by many business individuals and whilst many economists and business leaders are reluctant to comment, the answer falls into one of two categories, the businesses with proper planning and strategies, and the others who are just hiding under the duvet waiting until it’s okay to come out.

 

Performance improvement through on-site mystery shopping will provide your management team with the tools to develop, train and re-train their teams to improve customer service and sales performance. By using this method of evaluation, you will enable management and training teams to highlight good and bad practices and use the footage as evidence based training. The purpose of this type of mystery shopping is to provide information to your management team upon which business decisions can be taken.

 

With the right tools, there is no reason why any business cannot grow and look to a successful future, even in these difficult economic conditions. Most people will know that what their business achieves in 2012 will be entirely up to them – not the Euro Zone, government growth or interest rates. They will succeed because they know that success doesn’t come to those who wait – we need to go looking for it.

 

For more information on how Douglas Stafford can help develop your sales teams, call us on 0800 783 1913. Are you hiding under the duvet?

March on

After a tough year for new car sales in 2011, dealerships are using new tactics, including low rate PCPs and zero per cent deals, to entice customers into the showroom.

 

Car Dealer Magazine has compared car sales figures and reported “that with the market in 2011 down by 4.4 per cent against an already low 2010 figure, manufacturers are keen to make a strong start to the New Year and reverse the decline.”

 

As the March plate change rapidly approaches, automotive manufacturers such as Vauxhall, Fiat, Honda, Toyota and Chrysler are a few of many franchises looking to increase car sales this year and improve on last year’s figures, before the arrival of the new plates.

 

Douglas Stafford has been making a name for itself in the motoring industry for more than 21 years, helping dealerships reach untapped potential and increase car sales.
The company works with 47 per cent of the UK’s automotive manufacturers along with many dealers and dealer groups.

 

Douglas Stafford can help with showroom sales events and new product launches, with customer service advisors on hand to help increase showroom traffic during an event and help to create appointments, which will give sales teams more opportunities to sell cars.
Douglas Stafford can also rate your overall customer satisfaction levels and provide information for real change.

 

By making full use of this valuable resource and talking to past customers on a regular basis, additional sales can be generated and levels of customer satisfaction can be significantly improved.

 

For more information on Douglas Stafford, please go to www.douglasstafford.com or contact us on 0800 7831913.