7 minute read
Interview: Chris Wiseman
The Kia dealership in Bristol
Wessex Garages MD Chris Wiseman is an optimist – despite having to contend with Brexit uncertainty and then the pandemic since taking over the post less than a year ago, as James Batchelor found out.
The Gloucester showroom
What a great year to take over as managing director!’ jokes Chris Wiseman, boss of dealer group Wessex Garages. In a year that would test the strongest of leaders, Wiseman’s dry sense of humour is not all that surprising when you discover he’s an idealist.
‘I am an optimist when it comes to my job – you have to be whenever you’re in a position of leading a business,’ he tells Car Dealer in an exclusive interview, available on our website. ‘It’s been a challenging year – there’s no doubt about that. First there were discussions around Brexit and everyone was trying to second-guess that, and then Covid hit. If nothing else, that put me on a level playing field with a lot of other experienced managing directors because no one has been through this.
‘Every day is a school day when you get something like this. It’s about learning as much as you can about the situation and about your customers and adapting your business – this has been crucial to us.’
Crucial and also rather successful. Despite coronavirus striking at the worst time and having a ‘crippling’ impact, Wiseman has steered the business to a position that would please the most negative of pessimists.
Sales are strong, profitability is up and, as we speak on a hot afternoon in September, Wessex Garages has been enjoying four consecutive months of growth.
‘The bounce back was exceptionally good for us,’ he says. ‘Trading in June, July and August was ahead of last year and especially ahead of where we budgeted when we were in Covid. At the moment, it would appear we are sitting above our prior year performance.
‘I am quite pleased with that bearing in mind the losses we took during the months we were shut. That’s through the support of the government, in part, with the furlough scheme – which was phenomenal – and the business rates. This has been a godsend to us.’
So far, September is looking to be an outstandingly buoyant month for the group, with strong performances in new and used cars plus servicing. And while there are concerns around new car supply and quarter four performance, Wiseman’s optimism shines through again. ‘September, generally, has been exceptionally good so far,’ he says. ‘We are just starting to see the undertone of stock shortages in certain areas and with certain products, but we carried a lot of stock moving into this, which I was glad of for once.
‘In terms of volume and profitability we will have a better September again – the fourth consecutive month, which is great. The key is to make September as good as you can make it because we don’t know what’s going to happen in October and November.
‘I think we will get a bit of carry-over into October, but then I think we will really start to see some of the stock issues hitting.’
Four consecutive months of growth is remarkable for any large dealer group, but especially for one that has had to endure even tougher times because of the geographical topography of its network. Wessex Garages has seven sites and holds franchises for Mazda, Kia, Nissan and Renault among others, but they’re split between Wales and the south-west
Wessex Hyundai in Cardiff
The Cardiff showroom
of England. This make-up has naturally led to a few frustrations during lockdown, with different government regulations and guidance causing headaches.
‘It’s been a challenge, no question about it, but we have been and we are prepared,’ Wiseman says honestly. ‘The regulations are confusing for retailers in any industry, and for customers it’s completely disjointed – and that’s before you get into where you can and can’t travel. Our goal from the outset was always to make the businesses look as professional and as safe as we possibly could. The businesses are probably over the top in safety compared with virtually every other retail environment that I’ve been in, though, but feedback has been very, very good.’
Speaking from one of the group’s showrooms just 10 miles from Caerphilly, which at the time of publication was in lockdown, Wiseman is aware that the geographical split will continue to cause challenges.
‘Who’s to know if the Caephilly lockdown won’t spread to Newport where we have four franchises and an accounts department? The danger is something happening in the last week of September, like the last week of March, and that would be a disaster.’
Wessex’s impressive dedication to using the latest technology to improve the sales process for customers and staff has long been a hallmark of the business, not just recently during tough trading times. It was one of the earliest businesses to recognise the benefits of video technology and, more recently, having online tools to better qualify customers and to build trust.
‘Videos are a significant investment,’ says Wiseman. ‘We have turntables set up in all of our businesses and we have digital sales executives whose jobs are to take photos and videos of all our cars. It’s become a smooth operation now and once you get into it it becomes the backbone of the sales process. The more information you can give to a customer in a professional manner, the easier it is for them to put their trust in you.’
Wiseman is a realist when it comes to online sales, believing that the days of end-to-end car sales are in their infancy and for the time being online tools should be used to help customers and qualify them for sales executives.
His team have brought the response time to any online lead down to less than three minutes – in most cases, less than a minute. It also has ‘online navigators’ who work between 8am and 9pm offering a concierge-style service to discuss with the customer how they would like to make a purchase. ‘It means when the customer comes into the showroom and sits down, the sales executive is better briefed. Because it’s an appointment, there’s a commitment from both parties and the propensity to buy is much higher.’
With so many challenges under his belt so far in the past 10 months, how does Wiseman see the rest of the year panning out?
‘I think there will need to be some kind of government support to ease the pain as we go into the fourth quarter, the restrictive measures in terms of face masks and social distancing are probably going to be here until at least the end of the year, and there’s a chance of a second spike of the virus, which would be horrific for us and every industry. If we can stick to a common-sense approach, the government does its bit and we make customers confident to come out and buy, we have half a chance of finishing the year off reasonably.’
LOOKING AHEAD
Hoping for gradual values adjustment
CHRIS Wiseman was ‘dreading’ seeing used values plummet during lockdown, but he’s been relieved at the market’s strong resilience. ‘If people needed to get cash back into businesses I was worried they’d start dumping used cars on to the market and there’d be a downturn in values.
‘Fortunately, everyone held their nerve and Cap did the right thing and held values. The industry worked well in coming together and that has helped where we are at the moment.
‘Used cars will benefit from a lack of new car supply, without a doubt. How long this will last I don’t know because we all thought values would have dropped by now. I’m hoping there will be a gradual adjustment not a cliff edge, and it’s also about having the right stock profile.
‘We are seeing demand across the board, particularly with late low-mileage ex-demonstrators.’
He sees it holding through September and October, but after then is anyone’s guess.
