GM Drives for Continuous Improvement and Customer Satisfaction into Sub-Saharan Africa

Training of Dealers of New and Improved Processes and Innovative Approach to Quality - laying a firm foundation for excellent customer service and support into Africa

After the recent roll out of the brand new business model for the new Isuzu Pick-up, General Motors (GM) invited key people from various Parts Dealers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to attend a training workshop. 

The workshop was based around an intensive three-day-long training schedule that saw SSA Dealers experiencing the GM Difference and understanding the important role they play in delivering on-going customer satisfaction.

The GM Difference is seen as a holistic way of doing business, designed to encourage Dealers to exceed customer expectations by creating an environment of quality-driven processes and continuous improvement that ultimately deliver improved standards of service and satisfaction.

The workshop also aimed at equipping Dealers with the necessary skills and knowledge to manage parts and accessories for the new Isuzu Pick-up.  

These skills ranged from orientating them with the new electronic parts catalogues, to handling invoicing queries, as well as ordering parts for the new Isuzu Pick-up.  Dealers were shown a robust internet ordering system which will enable them to order parts directly from the warehouse. 

The live-update system will allow Dealers to have full visibility of all part numbers in the warehouse at anytime.  The system will also enable Dealers to place orders for parts that might not be within the facility at the time of ordering.

“We are starting with the partnership of taking the Isuzu brand into Africa.  It was truly important for the Dealers to meet the GM Aftersales team at Parts & Accessories,” said Kevin Ackerberg, GM Business Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa.  

"Now, with the implementation of the skills and experience gained through the workshop, they are on course to achieve even higher standards of customer service.”

The Dealers from SSA certainly felt that they benefitted from the workshop.  “The training that we have received from GM has been extremely well put together.  

The Aftersales team has been outstanding in terms of their ability to gather so many countries and so many people and coordinate such a training programme with representatives in Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Doug Pope, Spares Manager, Autoworld, Zimbabwe.

Pope added that the dedicated team at Autoworld continuously works with General Motors to identify key areas to improve, ensuring that customers will enjoy high standards of service experience that exceed expectations.

In addition, the GM Difference will also ensure that all the SSA Dealers are professionally trained on an ongoing basis that will result in SSA offering customers exemplary standards in sales and service experiences that will be the benchmark in the auto industry and pave the way for improved customer enthusiasm and loyalty.  

Further, this type of workshop forms part of GM’s commitment to provide support structures for Aftersales in SSA whenever new products are launched.

Ashish Patel, Director Aftersales, Action Auto, Zambia said, “At Action Auto our aim is not only to acquire new customers but to retain them for life and keep them enthused and loyal. 

This is a continuous challenge and the GM Difference plays a key part in achieving this by ensuring that we not only implement, but also set the benchmark while developing the best practices within the industry.”