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Tread boldly at ATS
Page 24
Page 25
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You don't get to be the UK's leading tyre
dis-ributor vvithout
majoring on customer
service. Andy Salter
talcs to ATS Euromaster MD Nick Gregg.
Customer service is, in principle, a simple concept. I, as the customer, pay you, as the provider, a fee for goods and/or services and you keep me happy. Sadly, the road transport business is littered with examples of poor customer care with many companies, large and small, apparently paying little or no attention to their customer's needs.
Under Nick Gregg's stewardship as managing director at ATS Euromaster, that's not an accusation that could be thrown in the tyre and maintenance specialist's direction. "Our whole organisation is focused on the customer," says Gregg, "It has to be if we are to be successful."
We've met Gregg a few times since he joined the company from Shell 18 months ago, and speaking to him, it's not hard to see why the ATS organisation appears to have been invigorated by its new man at the top. He talks with an infectious energy and also, in an age when many get bogged down in management-speak, in plain language.
To illustrate the point, during our interview Gregg shows us his organisational chart for the business, and, you've guessed it, the customer sits firmly at the centre. "As a national service provider we have to deliver a standard delivery of service, no matter what product or where," he explains."This is the thing that makes us unique in the marketplace. Moreover, our customers expect this consistency of supply."
Who's at the centre?
Now this organisadonarstuff is all very well,but there are plenty of companies which profess to put the customer at the centre of their operations. Dig a little further, however, and it's clear that ATS's focus is more deeply ingrained. "Of course we benchmark ourcustomer satisfaction." says Gregg, "but not to pat ourselves on the back when we hit the 'pass' figure."
ATS carries out a quarterly customer satisfaction survey in which individual customers are asked a set of questions, which are then measured in seven key areas: awareness and image;offer and service;infommtion to customer; operation delivery (-are we any good,"clarifies Gregg): policy adherence: invoicing and administration; and overall satisfaction.
Answers to these question are then fed back into the system and, according to Gregg, this drives the action plan back to the business: "Individuals in the different departments take ownership of the scorecard created from the survey and they then take responsibility for the action required.
"This is the key to the success of the survey," he adds. "If we're going to go to the effort of measuring customer response then we're damned well going to ensure we act on the information. I have a personal passion to ensure we get it right for the customer. The more you get it right, then the more likely you are to get the repeat business."
Gregg has been making some wholesale changes at ATS during the past year and a half; reorganising the business from a previous twodivision structure based on heavy and light products into a single entity. "Organisationally,' can understand why you might separate the business into heavy and light," he says. "But as a business people had bought all their products from us and to separate the two divisions was a poor strategic move as it created confusion in the market."
There has also been a complete rebuild of the customer service team at the Aston. Birmingham call centre; a big programme is in place to revamp the service centres; and there's increased investment in the van fleet, with 100 new (Mercedes and Iveco) vans joining the fleet. It's been a hectic time for the company, but Gregg's not finished yet. Our offer to the customer will be changing in the coming months," he reports, "based around three areas of focus: mobility, safety and value for money.These three areas, in differing levels of priority depending on our customer's operation, are what drive their business and it's what drives our organisation."
What price mobility?
It's Gregg's contention, and there is no obvious reason to challenge it,that mobility-keeping the vehicles moving will be more important to some operators than others, who mighty be driven by a safety requirement, and some firms will obviously be driven by ensuring best value for money.
-All customers will take a different view on all these issues," Gregg explains. -When we understand the priority of our customers, then we can better tailor the products and services we offer to ensure we give the best offering in the market."
One example of this is the recent announcement that ATS is launching a national tyre breakdown service, initially for the truck sector, giving operators a 24/7 service. In addition, ATS has taken the wraps off a web-enabled fleet inspection service, as well as on-line tyre authorisation.
Things are moving quickly at ATS Euromaster and Nick Gregg is clearly on a mission to revitalise the business and, as he says, "set a few challenges for our competitors!" With a clear drive from the top to make things happen and the processes apparently in place to ensure the customer stays central to these activities, the competition would be well advised to keep a close eye on ATS Euromaster. •