Notes from the meeting room: Clive Bell, Bells Motor Group

Meeting chaired by: Clive Bell, managing director, Bells Motor Group

Why was the meeting called and who was in attendance?

We’re looking to reflect what the sales environment is dictating and in response, how we’re moving into a digital world. The senior management team needed to look at how we evolve and react to these changing customer habits and how job roles have to evolve as a result.

What was top of the agenda?

How our digital environments will soon need to be on the same scale as our physical premises and what sales will look like in the future, as well as how we manage changing job roles.

Investigate the changing world of the sales executive and what flexibility we can give them around the sales process. For example, as live chat use increases, we are expected to communicate more and more with customers out of hours. What does that look like to our sales executives, and how can they be assisted to deal with those customers; at times when our physical premises are closed?

What was decided as a result of the meeting?

Sales executives can be given more flexibility to communicate and transact with customers out of-hours. Similarly, we have industry data showing that customers who communicate on live chat with a sales executive, rather than an assistant or AI, are seven times more likely to transact. We have a huge focus in this area. We are also looking at our ecommerce sales teams being open seven days a week, to meet customer demand – we’ve seen a 60-70 percent increase in online sales since lockdown began, and this remains strong this year despite reopening.

We will therefore offer staff the opportunity to participate in a pilot programme. This will give them flexible working hours and the ability to transact customers when it bests suits them.

Any other business?

We are seeing electric vehicle buyers interact differently with us, for example early adopters tend to want to transact in a more digital fashion first, until it comes time for a test drive. We’re next looking at how they coincide.

When is the next meeting, and what is it about?

September; to discuss how the pilot has gone and the future EV strategy.

About the company:

• Company: Bells Motor Group
• Head office location: Norman-D-Gate, Bedford Road, Northampton, NN1 5NT
• Principal business: Sale and maintenance of new and used cars, Kia and Volvo
• Number of employees: 105