On Monday 19 October, the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) visited Franchised Dealer Member Trident Honda, in Ottershaw to launch a new 'Dealer Spotlight' initiative.
NFDA Chief Executive, Sue Robinson met with Trident Honda’s MD, Richard Roberts who is also the Chair of both NFDA’s Southern Regional and NFDA’s Aftersales Working Group. After a constructive meeting, Richard Roberts agreed to pilot NFDA’s first ‘Dealer Spotlight’ visit.
The NFDA Dealer Spotlight campaign follows the previously launched initiative, NFDA Engage. In January 2021, NFDA launched “Engage” to support dealers with their communication activities and help them to optimise their interactions with customers, colleagues and media. Whereas through Engage NFDA supported dealers via their own communications, the Spotlight initiative will run primarily across NFDA’s channels.
#NFDADealerSpotlight has been designed to help support NFDA members’ online engagement. The visits give NFDA the chance to promote the success of its members through the association’s website and online platforms, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. This will then be followed by more detailed exposure through press releases, weekly newsletters and NFDA’s quarterly magazine, ‘The Voice’.
Upon a dealer visit, NFDA can share live pictures, videos and comments.
The visit additionally presents the perfect opportunity for the NFDA to directly engage with members, discussing aspects of their business and getting back in touch with dealers at a grass roots level.
The trip to Trident Honda was a resounding success, Richard Roberts was an excellent host who provided the NFDA team with a detailed tour of his dealership, meeting with colleagues and witnessing some of their day-to-day operations.
Trident Honda is a franchised Honda main dealer located in Ottershaw, between Woking and Chertsey in Surrey. Established in 1963 by Michael Roberts, Trident Honda is a case study in how a ‘family business can survive and indeed flourish in today's competitive market, by focusing on strong customer care with an almost obsessive attention to detail’, Trident’s website reads.
Trident employs 80 people with a very high retention rate. This makes their business personal with high regard for customer satisfaction. As a result of this, they are considered an extremely important component of their community, with many of their customers returning and recommending further to their friends and families.
Richard expressed his desire to make sure his dealership was properly equipped for the future transitions of automotive retail. Hence why they have had a great deal of infrastructure built into their dealership to help meet the ever increasing demand for Electric Vehicles. As of now, their dealership has three charging points, but Richard explained how they will have the opportunity and capabilities to install more when necessary.
Richard Roberts, Trident Honda Managing Director had the following to say after the NFDA’s visit to his dealership: “It was great to have a visit today from the NFDA Chief Executive, thank you Sue Robinson for all your time campaigning and lobbying for smaller dealers and dealer groups!
“I would also like to say thank you to Gabriele Severini and Adam Weeks for their time today in exploring the daily dealer operations to ensure they can better support us. It is never a chore and always a pleasure to host you”.
The NFDA would like to return the thank you to Richard Roberts for sharing his time to show us around his dealership, as it was a great experience and a successful start to the #NFDADealerSpotlight campaign.
For more information about Trident Honda, please visit their website: https://tridenthonda.co.uk/
