November 2019

pressure on to keep doing what we are doing, and improving too." The future With a couple of big awards under their belts, there could be a temptation to assume that they have it all sewn up. That was not the case here. Martyn said the business cannot assume that success is inevitable, largely because it isn't. Also, there is still a lot of work to do: "We have a few things we are developing that we want to do. Electric vehicles is one area. We will be trained and running with that one. Training is a big part of what we do here. We send everyone on training courses, we do a lot of that. "A dedicated EV bay is what I want to do. The customer will be able to see that it is a dedicated bay. I'm going to do it when we can do it properly. First we need to set up the training, and the bay, and the courtesy car. Then we will launch it. We will do the website too and then we will be ready to go." That sounds like a lot of work. They might need a sit down and a cuppa after all that. Well, that will come too, eventually: "Also, our tea room is not very big when you have six or seven people in so we are going to do a bigger room upstairs, and a training room is planned as well.” Everything done right, in the right way. That is the Cheltenham & Gloucester Autocentre philosophy. Even when talking about a cup of tea. That's probably why they won. We will doubtlessly be back to see what develops, with milk, but no sugar. NOVEMBER 2019 AFTERMARKET 59 www.aftermarketonline.net somewhere else in the area, but that facility was not quite right. Then we found our current site, getting this place was an opportunity too good to miss. We started up in 1999. We came here in 2000." Appreciation It has been said before, that a good business needs good customers. If you want to do good work, it helps if you have vehicles that are of good quality to work on, and that are owned by people who appreciate them. They will then appreciate you and what you do. Martyn and the team are well served in this regard: "Our customers are fantastic, they are really good. There are a lot of professional people around here, who want to be looked after, like to be looked after, and dealt with correctly. Quality is not necessarily tied to a particular brand, as Martyn has found: "We see all sorts. We see absolutely everything. If you go in the workshop now, there are eight cars in there. All different makes. all sorts of cars." Not only cars: "We do a lot of vans as well. A lot of local companies in the area use us to keep their vans on the road." We asked if they had targeted the van market or if it just happened: "We were going to target it, but for some strange reason they keep coming through the door. There are a lot of small and medium sized businesses in the area, specialised businesses. If they keep coming through the door they obviously like what we do." Martyn is always focused on the needs of the customer, and business users are likely to have different priorities compared with a private user, particularly if it is a small business. Martyn said he is very conscious of this: "If they need it back for 2pm, and that is what we say we will do, then that is what we will do." This took the conversation, by a circuitous route, onto the issue of advertising and marketing. We asked Martyn how the business has historically sourced its work: "Generally we have always operated through word of mouth," explained Martyn, “ we have from day one. We do some advertising in the area, a bit in the parish magazine, a bit here and a bit there. There are a lot of retired people in the area so it is a good place to target. We targeted the local golf club as well. " Word to the wise, the local church or parish magazine's reach is always underrated. You have Martyn's word for it. Cheltenham & Gloucester Autocentre clearly has a good local reputation. We wondered if its win in Top Garage has helped to add to this: "It has helped and customers are hearing about it. We have put notices up in the reception to convey the message to the customers - 'look' it is telling them, 'this is what we have won and we are very proud of it'. They come in and say 'wow' and they start talking about it. 'What is that about? How did you win it?' It is good, it helps us get closer to the customers. It is the way we differentiate ourselves from others around here that like to do the same job." If being one of the three winners of Top Garage 2019 was not enough, the business also won Automechanika Birmingham 2019's Garage of the Year competition. Back to Top Garage though. Through its win in Top Garage 2019, Cheltenham & Gloucester Autocentre has shown the world it is doing everything right. We were wondering though, has the experience of Top Garage inspired Martyn to do something differently, or try something new? He became thoughtful for a second: "It has made me very aware now that you have put yourself out there on a pedestal, which makes you an easier target, easier to be shot at. If you are not doing a good job and you are not as good as you say you are, then it is easy to get shot down. It puts extra Below: The workshop