AM Awards: Excellence in Customer Service: Dingles Motor Group

Excellence in Customer Service award sponsored by SAF

The wow factor is what Dingles believes gives it the edge in a world where it thinks much of the industry looks the same. It believes brand advertising, the nature of deals, design of showrooms and even styling of vehicles have all started to follow the same theme.

However, the company believes that it stands out through personality, history and unique standards.

Coupled with this is a philosophy of delivering high quality and measurable customer care which it says has helped it stay in business for 90 years.

At the core of this Norfolk Toyota dealership is the culture of a family-run business. Managing director John Dingle is the third generation of the Dingle family to run the firm and has the same attitude as his father and grandfather – that it is the way you treat customers which keeps them coming back.

Dingle is personally involved with the recruitment of customer-facing staff and seeks to ensure all recruits have the right combination of personality, initiative and commitment.

Once hired, employees receive training to ensure continual improvement and consistent delivery of dealer standards, particularly in the technical areas of vehicle servicing and repair.

“Dingles stands out through personality, history and unique standards”

Evidence of Dingles’ commitment to excellence came last year when it beat 2,500 dealers from around Europe to win the Toyota Ichiban European Customer Satisfaction Award, one of only three Toyota outlets in the UK to receive the accolade.

Also last year, Dingles service adviser Ian Elvin came second in the Toyota European Grand prix skills final.

The company also recently won the Eastern Daily Press Customer Care award for organisations in East Anglia.
Despite these accolades, Dingles strives for continued improvement and one initiative to improve its level of service is a Dingles Difference DVD.

This is given to new customers and sets out what people can expect from the business.

It includes testimonials from clients and personal messages from key members of staff.

Any negative customer comments are investigated by a customer service manager and the managing director.
Dingles has dealerships in Norwich, Attleborough and Lowestoft. It has recently added Subaru and Isuzu to its Norwich site.

Highly Commended