Special report: RALPH MORTON

WOW! Mercedes HQ is swish these days with all its smoked glass and open atriums. It’s polished, refined, confident and smart.

Rather like Nick Andrews, who embodies all these attributes so deftly as he sits across the table from me.

The last time I’d met Nick, who is head of fleet at Mercedes, was at the ACFO AGM held at the fantastic Mercedes-Benz World in Brooklands, Surrey (see First sneak peak at Merc’s new A-Class).

Then, just eight months into the job at Mercedes, Nick announced that he wanted Mercedes to be much closer to the fleet and business sales market, and then followed this up with an ambitious target:

• “We want to become number one in the premium fleet sector for both sales and service.”

Big ambition. Big task.

So how far had Nick and the three-pointed star of Mercedes gone along the road to being number one?

“It’s a three year plan and I’ve been here at Mercedes for one year…we’ve got drive and ambition. It’s important from a leadership perspective to give clarity on where we are going, both to customers and our dealer network. That’s what it’s about.

“There will be factors outside my control that will affect it, of course – the economy, company car tax, technical changes. But we want to achieve that number one status and deliver best customer service and for it to be sustainable from a business perspective.”

What does number one mean to an SME?

These are words, embodiments of ambition. But what does number one mean? What does it feel like, taste like for one of the many companies in the SME sector?

“Let me explain how we’re getting there,” says Nick, “to give you a better idea.

“We have SBiP – that’s because we like acronyms here! – but it means ‘small business in partnership’.

“So what we want, ideally in every Mercedes-Benz retailer, is a highly qualified business development manager (BDM). What that means for an SME business is that they have a contact that they can talk to on a consultancy basis about their vehicle solution.

“The BDM will be skilled in all aspects of Mercedes-Benz, will be financially savvy knowing all the options in finance that an SME might wish for depending whether the funding should be on or off balance sheet. We want BDMs to give that consultancy. We want BDMs to own the SME relationship.

“To facilitate this we have made a significant investment in SBiP (infrastructure, training and development and gaining Institute of Motor Industry accreditation). The biggest challenge is then how do we communicate that to the SME so that they automatically pick up the phone to the local BDM when they want a new business car. They shouldn’t be scared of doing this.

The complete sales picture: cars and vans

“More than that, we want to have ownership of the whole sales process. We have separate commercial vehicle retailers and car retailers. But often an SME business wants both cars and vans – from just the one place. So we have to grasp this, facilitate the process, and make it happen. We will not let the SME fall between retail on the one hand and fleet on the other.

“We’re in the early stages of developing that. It’s not rocket science, but the challenge is getting it into place.

Large demonstration fleet

For an SME, getting in touch with their local Mercedes retailer will be worth it. According to Nick, Mercedes runs a central demo fleet of 300 cars, while dealers have a selection of demo cars too for the SME SbiP programme, offering extended test drives of up to 72 hours, or up to five days from central demo fleet.

Nick acknowledges that his position to get to number on eis underpinned by product development. “The new A-class opens up the choice for us so we can talk to customers about a total solution., If we can create more loyalty with our customers we’ll repeat the sales.”

The new A-Class is certainly a major breakthrough for the brand: all of a sudden Mercedes has a car that appeals directly to the SME owner as well as the company car driver user-chooser from a small business. It’s similar in terms of a step change as when the 190E – the forerunner of the C-Class – was first introduced, giving buyers and company car drivers access to a ‘baby Benz’. There was outrage at the time from Mercedes traditionalists

But if Mercedes has ambitions to be number one in the premium sector, who do they have to knock off the perch?

“BMW,” comes Nick’s direct reply. “In terms of what we can measure, then in three strategic areas they beat us. We know we can provide a good service. But I want our 123 retailers to provide a great service!”

To get to number one means moving across a variety of areas. Nick says Mercedes has completely redesigned its website: “if you’re a chooser or small business there’s a section for you.

“It’s simple to contact us. Behind the website we have a fleet business centre. If you want to contact Mercedes-Benz, just freefone our Business Centre number.”

The other area that Mercedes has been working on, says Nick, is the car finance offers. “To be number one you have to be very competitive and consistent in your finance offers.

“Consistency is key in this economy. If a small business owner pays £249 a month for an A-Class in January, then in six months’ time we want the offer still to be £249 if they – or a fellow small business – comes back. And while our offers must be consistent, they must be flexible to reflect the different ways SMEs wish to pay for their company cars, whether they pay cash, want contract hire or all the other different types of business car finance that are available.”

So Mercedes is starting its drive up the road to number one. To help them arrive at their destination, there’s the new A-Class, the newly revamped C-Class MY13 with its far better specification and new model line structure, and the introduction of the E-Class Hybrid – a performance saloon but with company car tax of just 12% thanks to its diesel hybrid drivetrain.

The next step in the process is at the beginning of 2013.

“We shall see some exciting developments for us then,” explains Nick with a gleam in his eye. “Right from the start of 2013 it’s going to be an exciting time for us.”

Watch out BMW, then.