Dealer Profile: JCT600 Volkswagen Bradford

JCT600 CEO John Tordoff recently revealed a strong 2017 for the Yorkshire-based multi-franchise group, number 12 in the Motor Trader Top 200. A 26% rise in pre-tax profits has been achieved thanks to what he described as a refusal to chase unrealistic manufacturer new vehicle sales targets, instead focusing on more profitable areas such as used and aftersales.

Implementing this programme at the JCT600 Volkswagen Bradford outlet, on Sticker Lane where the company was founded in 1946 by Tordoff’s father Jack, is head of business John Fickling.

In his present role since 2014 and this year celebrating his 40th year
in the industry, Fickling has worked in a range of automotive retail roles, across volume and premium brands, for such groups as Reg Vardy, Jardine, Sytner and Inchcape.

What drives business at Bradford Volkswagen?
Over the past 18 months our biggest focus has been on the channels that we can definitely positively affect. Aftersales and used cars are both buoyant. If the new car market volumes and penetration levels fall back, there are always huge aftersales opportunities that can be relied upon to consistently contribute towards our profitability.

Continually tweaking the aftersales processes and operations to further improve them has been very much a cultural move from both JCT600 and Volkswagen Bradford. We have an investment-minded culture within the whole team, with particular emphasis to convert our untapped aftersales opportunities that may have previously been overlooked.

We believe used cars will remain buoyant and our key objective is to achieve a record used car performance every month. We closely monitor such areas as stock management and vehicle preparation, making sure you have the right mix, price-checking the cars and then presenting them to a high standard. We have a massive focus on our digital presence and how we take the cars to market.

Is it getting more difficult to source used car stock?
Supply can pose difficulties. The challenges around WLTP reduce
the cycle feeding cars into the market through new car sales channels. We have to be more creative. We continually review opportunities
within our database, we are actively strong in buying the best used cars. We buy plenty from the manufacturers stock, we are in constant contact with the finance houses and leasing companies, and we scour the auctions to find vehicles that will suit our customers.

How important is digital to you?
When a car arrives we expect it prepared within two to three working days and on sale – customer visible – immediately. We have a dedicated colleague who is skilled in taking the photographs and videos, paying attention to how that car will look online.

Long past are the days when customers simply drove past the showroom and spotted the car. If you are not in the digital shop window, you are not in the market. It’s about getting cars to market more quickly than the competition, in the right condition, and competitively priced from day one.

How do you market aftersales?
We’ve invested heavily in our customer contact centre at our former Volkswagen Chesterfield site. Our colleagues there make dedicated outbound calls, targeting customers in terms of servicing intervals, MoT reminders, tying into specific offers such as on cambelts, winter checks and the like. Again a lot of the marketing we do here is digital based, online. We send electronic reminders along with targeted customer offers.

How do you support your staff?
Colleague engagement is vital to the business and we continually measure it throughout the year. We do a colleague survey every year – we have been number one centre for engagement within JCT600 during the past year and have regularly featured in the top three rankings since 2014.

We believe we have the right culture for someone to join our team and really flourish. The catalyst for this to thrive is having a supportive and coaching style within the management team, regular performance reviews and clear feedback with every colleague, identifying how they can develop and improve.

The team understands what the customer wants, the old adage
of putting themselves in the customer’s shoes. How does it feel when you walk onto the site, what is the first impression and are you made
to feel welcome?

As an example, our aftersales team make pre-visit calls, keep customers informed by using video technology to communicate with them while their car is with us, and follow-up calls afterwards to ensure that we have delivered on our promises.

How are your staff retention levels?
Our current attrition rate is around 12%, the industry norm being double that. Most challenging roles to recruit are sales executives and service advisers. It’s very difficult to find someone with the brand experience. Those ready-made people very rarely exist and if they do you tend to
ask why they are available?

We’ve tended instead to grow our own. A starter this week is new to the industry but she has all the right attributes in terms of customer skills. We can grow her automotive knowledge. We recently recruited an apprentice technician through our partnership with the Prince’s Trust and we are very strong on our apprentice programme.

What are the big issues for the next six months?
A record used car period and a change in mentality from our sales team who will have to sell what they can see rather than just building up a forward order bank. Aftersales will remain buoyant, retail hours further increasing, along with our parts sales.

We will continue evolving the business, moving away from a traditional sales exec structure and towards specialised areas of the business dedicated to a better, quicker and more consistent customer response, particularly through our digital channel.

The world is changing, and you are either a pioneer and you lead it, or you wait and follow, by which time your competition is in front of you.