For two consecutive years Alpine Renault in Hillcrest, a suburban area west of Pinetown and Durban, won the dealer of the Year Award in the medium size category from the French manufacturer. The previous award was achieved in the small category, but the dealership has since moved up a notch in its size classification.
Dealerfloor spoke to Byron Warner, DP at Alpine Renault Hillcrest, which is a part of a multi-franchise in town of the independent Alpine Motor Group, which includes Haval/GWM as well as a number of dealerships like VW, VW Commercial, Audi, Chery and JAC in neighbouring Pinetown and an Audi dealership in Umhlanga.
“We worked hard as a team to achieve our goals, which led to us scooping up the award for a second time. Our strategy is a bit different in that we would rather order and have an oversupply of stock to reduce the negative impact that stock shortages create.
“Our goals are set, not only on the targets provided by the OEM but also what we at dealership level need to make money. Having rather large backorders mean we get a lot of stock as it becomes available. What we get, we sell, and we know the needs of our customers,” Byron says.
He says they sell mainly in KwaZulu-Natal with Hillcrest itself being a prime location for doing business. “Our After Sales department functions close to capacity, but we would like to see more vehicles serviced locally.
“Many people stay in Hillcrest, but work elsewhere and it is convenient for them to have their vehicles serviced close to where they work. Nevertheless, we see a good uptake on business overall because of strong social media marketing.”
We asked Byron what awards like this meant to a dealership. “We took over the dealership a few years back and turned its fortunes around. Not only running the business better with staff buying into the goals that needed to be achieved, but a good product goes a long way to put the dealership on a winning path.
“We use our award-winning status to the maximum, not only on social media and marketing campaigns, but also with branded vehicles and at the dealership itself. People take notice, it creates interest and trust in our dealership, which are very important for doing business,” Byron tells Dealerfloor.
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