Leslies Suzuki, based on the Isle of Wight, won the brand’s National Dealer of the Year award for the second time, beating out much larger dealers. We check what’s so good.
This is perhaps the eyebrow raised by some of Suzuki’s biggest dealers when a small shop in what might seem like limited territory on the Isle of Wight was named the brand’s National Dealer of the Year for 2023, but they shouldn’t have been so surprised. – Leslies Suzuki has won this award in the past in 2018, along with a host of other accolades for its sales and after-sales.
Although on the surface it is a typical small dealership, the Suzuki workshop is one of the largest automotive organizations on the island. Originally created through Leslie Vanassche and now run by her son Graham and grandson Louis, Leslies Motors also owns the Hyundai, Kia, Mazda and Toyota franchises. .
According to Keith Ashdown, head of Suzuki, taking on the logo in 1999 was a step into the unknown. “We didn’t want to worry,” he recalls. We set up the dealership in a small place that also served as a fuel station. The petrol pumps had to close temporarily when we realised Suzuki’s prospects and wanted dominance and took a step forward in the concourse domain to accommodate more stock.
Ashdown has been there since the beginning, when he joined Leslies 37 years ago, at the age of 17. He started in after-sales service, which he says gave him the most productive foundation imaginable for his current role. “I temporarily learned the importance of taking care of your existing customers, who in turn become your ambassadors. On the Isle of Wight, where word of mouth can make or break you, it’s vital to have the right staff in place to execute our mission-strategy and grow with us.
Ashdown believes that sales and after-sales service go hand in hand. This is a critical facet of the center’s success, and it’s something you don’t see in some giant dealerships where the sales and service departments don’t interact enough. “”There’s a wall between them,” he says. I can’t do my homework as a sales manager without the service guys, I have to make them listen to me and want me to sell cars to fill the paint shop. In the sales department, we take a look at For example, if someone has booked a service, there might be a visitor who would like to install a new Vitara for a day; We work a lot in combination and it works very well.
The site typically prioritizes visitor retention, focusing on PCPs in sales and after-sales service plans, employing E Dynamics plans across the group. Suzuki’s Service Promise, which lays out a series of criteria that extend to aspects such as washing each visitor’s vehicle once completed paintings, also encourages loyalty; “Customers get very excited when we wash their cars. “
According to Ashdown, however, the true backbone of the company is simply to inspire a family spirit among its employees and consumers. “We are a family business that serves the Suzuki family. And that’s exactly how our consumers feel: being part of something special and they come back and come back. I still sell cars to some of the original consumers of the early 2000s, as well as the next generations of their families.
“We don’t have a ‘Gin Palace’ concession; It’s an older site, we’ve been recently renovated. We may just move to a bigger site, but where we are, right in the middle of the island with a main road. Running straight to the outside of our door, it works wonders, thanks to the other people we have here.
The center has adequate staff retention, as several team members have worked there for many years. ” My service manager was my apprentice when I was in the aftermarket, and at the end of last year, I let a technician who had been there all along pass through. We get along, we socialize a lot: there are friendships and a wonderful camaraderie here.
The group’s prestige on the island also contributes to the development of the staff. “Because we have several concessions within the group, we can promote staff around them. I had a sales manager who was willing to take on a leadership role that I didn’t have. for him, but he went to our Toyota site. »
Ashdown believes that this circle of family members concentrated within the company and among its visitor base has been instrumental in weathering the Covid-era typhoon and the difficult situations that followed. “Our unwavering consumers have remained unwavering with us, just like everyone else. In the automotive industry, we weren’t sure about the future, but with the leadership and direction of Graham and Louis, we made what we do more productive and we all managed to work differently, but we achieved the end goal. To reiterate Suzuki’s saying, we are “Good Different”.
So what about more recent challenges? The biggest, according to Ashdown, has been obtaining sufficient stock, though he added that this situation has improved while the work done by the dealership in securing orders has brought dividends. “We had built up a good order base and so when in quarter four last year it was quiet we were still sending out cars we had taken orders for in the summer.
“This year we don’t have that, so we’re starting to pull back a little bit and I think in 2024 the price of used cars will depend on price. They seemed to come down particularly at the end of the fourth quarter of last year, but still If you look at the projections, I think it’s going to stabilize.
He added that having had a couple of years when getting customers into new cars was “quite an easy job,” due to the Covid throwback of the equity in their trade-ins, such aspects are likely to be more of a challenge in future, particularly with the cost-of-living crisis.
The “captive audience” of an island territory has been diluted in recent years due to the rise in online sales, with consumers looking for their possible acquisition across the country, but far from being a disadvantage, according to Ashdown, it has allowed the dealership to have an edge.
“People are now connected to the internet, so we want to be more competitive – we sell online, and because we’re on an island, we have a lot of low-mileage used inventory that we can market nationally. Our guys on the mainland deliver cars every year. and every week. Yes, there are charges and time points to deal with being on the island, but those aren’t all challenges.
Leslies puts a lot of effort into online marketing along with her sales. “We have a marketing manager who is surely perfect, on Facebook, Instagram, the website, etc. You have to be present, you have to show up in people’s Facebook feeds, that’s imperative. We used to place classified ads in newspapers and on the radio, but that’s not the case anymore: our most productive classifieds are our customers.
The group is not averse to direct marketing – a highlight of the year is the Isle of Wight Motorshow, held in March and now run entirely by Leslies for its brands; “We have enough franchises to do it. The show is held in a massive hall at a school in the centre of the island, each franchise has around eight cars on display and we have test drives available outside – it works ever so well.”
Suzuki’s diversity of styles also suits the island, as citizens tend to prefer small cars, so Leslies sells many styles of Swifts and Ignis. A new Swift is expected to launch in the second quarter of 2024, with Ashdown teasing its arrival.
What of the future, however, and the inevitable arrival of electric vehicles? Suzuki has been slow to adopt full BEVs, with the brand’s first model not due on sale until 2025, but Ashdown believes the brand has been very clever in promoting the hybrid models launched by Suzuki through an agreement with Toyota. “Price-wise EVs are still very much above the average customer’s price budget, whereas hybrids are much more affordable.
“Electric cars are coming to the island and when they do, they will do well because people don’t make long trips here. The more I get used to having electric vehicles in my showroom, the more I will focus on them; however, They’re still in my head right now because I have a task to do this year.
Ashdown is confident in the long run, thanks to the strength of the Suzuki logo and what he described as the “unrivalled support” that Suzuki GB provides to its dealers. The vision of Dale Wyatt, Director of Automotive, and David Kateley, Managing Director of Commercial Operations, has been instrumental in the continued and long-term good fortune of Suzuki dealers in the UK; I have no doubt that with transparent targets and the team needed to achieve them, we will have a wonderful 2024 with the launch of the new Swift and our first electric vehicle in 2025. “
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