AM Awards 2017: Excellence in customer service

Forty team members, randomly selected from different franchises, locations and disciplines within Jardine Motors Group, met in a room armed with marker pens and post-it notes, their aim to define a strategy that would make it the best motor dealer judged by its customers, staff and suppliers.

With customers’ direct input, these employees came up with the Jardine Core Process. The aim is to inform, educate and coach, making sure each customer journey is of the same high standard, leading to happy customers and repeat business.

The team broke down the process into sections, each in a manual for easy navigation. Examples of the sections include vehicle journey, focused on total vehicle care from arrival to customer

handover; the vehicle of interest journey, to deliver a professional experience offering all relevant and available products and services, so meeting any customer need; and the part-exchange journey, to make customers feel their trade-in is really valued.

An implementation team visited every site to impress on everyone the importance of consistency in customer service. They also created eight booklets and a website.

After implementation, a business improvement team continues to support and promote every employee’s online self-assessment to ensure they continue to provide the highest levels of customer service as prescribed by their customers. Any issues are handled in a friendly, timely manner, educating employees on how to improve, based on the foundation provided by the Core Process.

The aim of 100% customer satisfaction is only possible with 100% committed and knowledgeable team members with the right tools for the job, said business improvement manager Chris Sloan.

Consistency is monitored in multiple ways, from online feedback submissions and customer focus groups. Results are analysed by Jardine’s customer services team, and a ‘feedback ferret’ delves into Reevoo submissions for points of action.