One of the 20 largest motor retail groups in the UK with dealerships across the middle and South of England, Ridgeway utilises a number of CRM strategies, such as the ADP system, which caretakes all its customers data, its customer contact team, social media and its popular direct web link to CEO John O’Hanlon.

The database, though, is central. Each time an employee contacts a customer, information is checked and a full cleanse is undertaken annually. Group operations director Jon Head said: “An accurate and up-to-date database is the lifeblood of our future business.”

Building on the database foundations is Ridgeway’s contact centre, which started with  six people in 2008 and currently has 36. Teams are divided by brand and sub-divided into revenue generators – those who make service bookings, for example – and agents responsible for customer satisfaction, who handled almost 70,000 calls last year.

“From our perspective, employing people to contact customers means the job gets done and takes some of the stress away from sales executives and service advisers,” said Head.

CRM is integrated in all aspects of the business, particularly in social media, where Ridgeway’s team monitors and engages with thousands of people. The group has 21,000 followers on Twitter alone.

“We want to make everything right so people keep coming back to us. It’s about doing the basics and doing them well,” said Head.