Motoring ahead: car call centre is growing

DAIMLERCHRYSLER Retail, said to be the UK's fastest growing dealer group, is expanding its call centre operation. It started with a sales team to field incoming Mercedes-Benz customer enquiries. Then a pilot call centre was set up to test the benefits to customers and the retail network. Its dedicated CRM centre opened in Stockport in July last year to provide a centralised sales and after-sales service for four retail centres in the Manchester area. And, says DaimlerChrysler, its value was recognised in October when 629 new and used car sales enquiries were converted into 85 confirmed sales.

DaimlerChysler's call centre is on the second floor of refurbished offices in Crossley Park, Stockport

By December 2003, says the company, the call centre was achieving a 53 per cent conversion rate from inbound calls to appointments and subsequently expanded to include test drive bookings and brochure request fulfilment.

A further development was central service booking, enabling customers to book MoT tests and service work via the centre, resulting in more efficient and effective scheduling of jobs into the workshops.

DaimlerChrysler Retail operates 30 UK sites handling the brands Smart - the little car spelled with a lower case s - and Mercedes-Benz.

The call centre has 20 agents, and the same number of positions, all of whom are full time and 75 per cent of whom are female. It is open on weekdays, 8am-8pm, Saturdays 9am-6pm and Sundays 10am-5pm.

Each month they handle 7,000 inbound calls (average length 4 mins) and the same number of outbound calls (6 mins).

These outgoing calls are for such reasons as following up previous inbound calls, direct marketing campaigns and to remind customers that their cars is due for servicing and actively generates sales. It has also programmes such as lost sale follow up and renewals of finance contracts.

The CRM centre team (note: except for Mr Millar, all job titles include the words customer relationship executive). Back, from left: Rick Unwin, sales; Neil Walsh, after sales team leader; Trevor Harding and James McCormack, after sales; Jon Millar; Vikki Hall, sales; Dave Shannon, after sales outbound; and Dave Walker, after sales. Middle, from left: Dave Sanders, after sales; and Sharon Box, support. Front, from left: Carl Hipkin, sales; Rachel Pointon, support; Nicky Jones, senior support; Anouska Ward, sales; Katie Ellis, after sales outbound; and Kelly Saunders, sales

Jon Millar, CRM centre manager, says that 95 per cent of all contacts are by phone and the remainder by email. And he reports that the service level targets are achieved. They are 95pc of calls answered with 15 secs and all faxes and emails answered within two working hours. And he said: "We currently deal with our Manchester market area. We will soon duplicate this template for the Birmingham market area and potential outsourcing to other parts of the business." Mr Millar, who was recruited externally, has previously worked in call centres at British Telecom, Telewest and ChoiceQuote. Other senior people at the centre include the leaders of the three teams. Neil Walsh (after sales) was a technician for a number of garages, including Mercedes-Benz, and a team leader in the Arval PHH call centre. More recently, he was assistant service manager at a Peugeot dealership. Kaye Farrow (sales) has a call centre background, and Nicky Jones (admin) handled admin in a small business.

Possible recruits to the centre are found through newspapers and agencies and the selection process involves CV sifting and telephone and one-to-one interviews.

Successful candidates take 20 days of training, comprising three days (in Stuttgart) on the company culture; five days each on systems and soft skills; three days of product knowledge and four days shadowing a senior member.

Barry Crooks, CRM manager for DaimlerChrysler Retail said: "The CRM Centre has proved an extremely valuable tool in helping DaimlerChrysler to improve productivity, efficiency and customer service.

"The call centre was not designed to replace receptionists or the sales or after-sales teams at our retail centres.

"It was designed to make life easier for our customers, to maximise the efficiency of the workshops across the market area, and to provide our sales teams with qualified sales leads, appointments and test drives.

"In just a few months we have seen our workshops filled to capacity and our sales teams have never been happier. "The CRM Centre is now firmly established as a key enabler of our CRM strategy within DaimlerChrysler, and we expect to see the second market area (Birmingham) on stream by the end of July." DAIMLERCHRYSLER RETAIL CALL CENTRE FACT FILE Telecoms carrier: British Telecom Numbers in use: local and non-geographic Number of lines: 60 ACD: Nortel BCM 3.0 Headsets: GN Netcom and Plantronics Furniture: bbi office furniture Software: Kerridge Call Centre module Computers: IBM PCs, Compaq server CLI: soon DNI: yes Wallboards: supplied by BT Call volumes and service levels: see text

Vikki Hall is a customer relationship executive, sales