CHRYSALIS SOLMOTIVE LIMITED - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Renewals Centre Manager, Swansway
Customer renewals are too often overlooked as a central strand in a motor retail business's growth strategy. There can be many reasons for this. It may be that times are good for the business and a plentiful supply of new customers is keeping sales staff busy. This is when positive external economic forces can distract everyone from the value inherent in renewals. However, even when a business has a defined customer renewals strategy in place, our research suggests that it can under-perform simply through missing the opportunities around the very best moments for customer contact. Rigorous processes can also fail to deliver simply due to the wrong staff being tasked to implement them.
We recently published research revealing that it is not as unusual as it should be for a customer renewal strategy to result in only one sale for every ten or even 20 customers contacted. But when a renewal strategy is implemented well, with the right people delivering it, the results can be spectacular. So it is with Swansway, a dealer group concentrated across the north west and selling 13 brands. At Swansway a combination of the Chrysalis Loyalty Key2Key system for understanding the optimal timing based on the customer's financial position and the available offers to enable them to change car along with a highly skilled call centre team nurturing the strongest customer relationships delivers best-in-class results with one sale to every 1.4 customers contacted.
Alison Roberts heads a team of five, focused exclusively on Swansway's customer renewals. And last year they brought in 800 sales for the franchise brands with which they are supplied the Key2Key data and dashboard system. Their success stems from a combination of clearly defined process with ‘soft skills' so effective that many customers are on first name terms with the team - who are also regularly fielding inbound calls from people anticipating the renewal process.
A sign of Swansway's understanding of the value of such skills is that Alison had no prior background in car sales when she began building the team. Today, with the advice and help of Chrysalis Loyalty, the team is delivering best-of-breed results. Although Key2Key provides unrivalled insight into the options for renewal at very specific moments in a customer's contract, the strength of the Swansway strategy stems from a holistic approach to the long-term customer relationship.
Alison Roberts heads a team of five, focused exclusively on Swansway's customer renewals. And last year they brought in 800 sales for the franchise brands with which they are supplied the Key2Key data and dashboard system. Their success stems from a combination of clearly defined process with ‘soft skills' so effective that many customers are on first name terms with the team - who are also regularly fielding inbound calls from people anticipating the renewal process.
A sign of Swansway's understanding of the value of such skills is that Alison had no prior background in car sales when she began building the team. Today, with the advice and help of Chrysalis Loyalty, the team is delivering best-of-breed results. Although Key2Key provides unrivalled insight into the options for renewal at very specific moments in a customer's contract, the strength of the Swansway strategy stems from a holistic approach to the long-term customer relationship.
She explains: "Three years ago we began making calls at two, eight and 14 months, just to keep in touch and understand what their needs are. Even if we can see they are not in a great position now we can get a clearer understanding of where they will be in the future. They are never surprised to receive the calls because we give the customer a booklet when they first buy their car, explaining how we will maintain contact with them and why. It's very softly softly, with no hard sell and the customers appreciate it. They may have had problems with something like pairing phones with their car and we help them with things like that. Only about a third of the calls we make are with the intention of setting a renewal appointment.
Alison Roberts (2nd from left), with members of the Swansway renewals team.
Job Titles:
- Operations Director of Chrysalis Solmotive, Sai
Brendan Clegg, Operations Director of Chrysalis Solmotive, said: "Businesses do not have to subject themselves to the disruption of a detailed audit of all that they do. But we invested in achieving ISO 9001:2015 because it provides another layer of confidence for our customers.
Job Titles:
- Autofutura 's CEO
- CEO of Autofutura Commented
Christian Erlandson CEO of Autofutura commented: "Combining the leading-edge capability and reach of Autofutura with the renowned pedigree of Chrysalis Loyalty creates a unique fusion of expertise. Forged into one focused team, our new venture will leverage best of breed technology and data, giving us an unparalleled offering in the market. Through our enriched suite of solutions, we will be expertly positioned to support both new and existing clients as they seek to capitalise on opportunities today and future-proof their operations and strategic planning decisions for tomorrow."
The new entity will be led by Autofutura's CEO Christian Erlandson, with Chrysalis Loyalty CEO and Founder Jolyon Barker progressing to a new role as Strategic Adviser under the new structure. Newly combined, the company will serve customers in over 20 markets via its UK-based headquarters and international offices in Australia, Canada and Germany.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Former CEO
- Founder
- Strategic Adviser
Founder and CEO Jolyon Barker said: "We are primarily a technology-driven expert data business and that is why Mark is such a great fit for us at this exciting moment, bringing with him more than 20 years' experience and understanding as well as an impressive track record of success in that world.
Jolyon Barker Founder and former CEO of Chrysalis Loyalty, now Strategic Adviser to the merger, commented: "When Chrysalis launched in 2004, we defined a new approach to retention and loyalty technology with our award-winning Key2Key software platform. I am excited that Autofutura and Chrysalis are now joining forces. The combination of our highly skilled and dedicated teams, leading-edge global-data insights and technologies will provide OEMs, Fleets, Financiers and Retailers an even greater wealth of customer acquisition, retention and renewal assets, which have never been more crucial for delivering success than in this period of remarkable transformation within the global automotive industry."
Stephanie Falconer's automotive career spans a Who's Who of leading data and decision-support providers, including CAP-HPI, EurotaxGlass's and Jato Dynamics. A specialist in software and consultative services, Stephanie has strong relationships with vehicle manufacturers, retailers and finance and intermediary system providers across Europe and the UK. She joins the business from Cox Automotive where she has worked across business divisions serving financing, re-marketing, software solutions, media and insight.
Chrysalis Loyalty founder and CEO Jolyon Barker said: "Stephanie and Lyn are leaders in their respective fields and a perfect fit for Chrysalis as we drive the business toward our ambition of being the recognised world leaders in automotive customer retention.
Chrysalis founder, Jolyon Barker, said: "No matter how well designed and comprehensive, it is unrealistic to expect one system alone to best-of-breed in every aspect of the increasingly sophisticated processes used in automotive retail.
As an example, Jolyon Barker points to a project under way in Europe in which an enterprise email marketing system is being integrated with the Key2Key platform to increase transparency for dealers and their brand's captive finance arm around customer communications.
Stephanie Falconer joins the business as UK Account Director and Lyn Howdon has been appointed to head Chrysalis's Global Academy.