MT Awards 2018: Business Manager of the Year

Alexanders Prestige, based just outside Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire, specialises in selling cars for upwards of £30,000 to a nationwide and international customer base. Its location only minutes from the A1(M) is key to collection and delivery, and also to enable distant customers to reach it with minimal difficulty.

It has been trading since 2005 and prides itself in providing a quality of service and visitor experience that matches the cars it sells, operating from one of the largest indoor heated showrooms in the country, stocking, buying and selling prestige, 4×4 and sports cars.

Our judges were impressed by James Appleby’s performance since moving into the business manager’s role last year. Targeted to raise finance penetration to between 35% and 40% of sales, he has taken it to between 45% and 55%, as well as increasing guaranteed asset protection (GAP), paint protection and warranty sales.

When he joined the company’s sales team in October 2014, he was new to selling cars. He had previously worked as a mortgage adviser with Yorkshire Bank and then with a company selling quality fireplaces to homeowners.

“The first part of my employment was spent understanding and believing in our sales process and key beliefs,” he told us. “The Alexanders way of wanting to be the best, passionate about people and quality in everything we do came through to me very quickly. I embraced this and the sales process and with the support of my sales manager was quickly up to selling 20 to 30 cars per month.”

In partnership with his sales team colleagues, his message, presented with the utmost tact to its high net worth customers, is that there is no need for a customer to go elsewhere for finance. “I am presented to them as part of the sales team, another point of contact if the sales executive isn’t in, rather than ‘here comes the finance man’.”

Although he joined the company in 2014, Appleby was known to the company before then through his passion for performance cars. Alexanders Prestige sponsored him in the Ford Fiesta Championship, which he finished in the top three in both 2013 and 2014. His ability to combine his love for cars and driving with a skill for helping customers helped him settle in instantly.

Delighted to be judged business manager of the year, he also displayed humility, saying: “A lot of people in this industry put a lot of hours, graft and a little stress into this job at all roles, and having the support at home makes it all possible.

“To be taken on less than four years ago was a bit of risk and to repay the faith that Andrew North, Alex Brimelow, group managing director Irfan Khalid and sales manager Ben Brown showed in me with an award probably is the best part of it personally. It also adds to Alexanders’ broad range of awards we’ve been winning since 2007, so it’s lovely to be able to add to this list.”

The company made the most of the award by publicising the win on social media. “We love a photo opportunity here, so our followers could see this on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn for a good few days after the awards night,” he told us.

“Our process is why we succeed and why our customers get the best possible experience. As the business manager, I get involved with everyone early. This could be a simple hello or a detailed explanation of how we do things. This has helped massively with converting customers to deal and upsell on products.

“I also relish the chance to take an enquiry from fresh and deal with start to finish if we are short on the ground.”

Alan Millar is a freelance journalist and a long standing contributor to Motor Trader