8:08 pm, April 22, 2020
Managing director of Perrys Darren Ardron told Car Dealer Live today he’s proud of his team during lockdown.
The business has managed to help 350 customers out with small jobs in its workshops or has supplied courtesy cars in more extreme situations.
Perrys has also taken some deposits during the crisis but has focused instead on building a bank of 1,000 leads for when it returns for work from its call centre where 12,000 calls have been answered.
Ardron said that he was ‘hugely proud of the team because we never trained for anything like this’ and added: ‘I honestly can’t praise them enough for what’s happened in this crisis.’
He also commented on how reactive the business had been in changing to cater for customers’ new needs.
‘We didn’t have a click online facility – but now we should have that by this week,’ he said.
Perrys is working on the physical sites too, and making them fit for purpose to protect staff, with new perspex screens fitted at service receptions and in the call centre, but Ardron explained that these were being built to be moved around to where needed.
He said on the live broadcast that senior roles in the motor trade usually never stop but that he thought people should be taking this time to have ‘a forensic look’ and ‘think about the business and change for the better’.
The Perrys boss was positive about new car availability, explaining that he believed there would be ‘adequate supply’ due to the downturn in March and April, with stock likely in transit that hadn’t yet reached dealerships.
He praised the government’s support, but warned: ‘We’re somehow going to have to pay back for this crisis, we have to remember that. All of this bailout won’t be for free.’
Ardron’s final words for his team were: ‘Stick at this for a little bit longer. I think it’s vital we keep to these government guidelines and come through this crisis, because the motor trade is very resilient and we will come out of it. I’ve no doubt about it.’
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