A KwaZulu-Natal based Hino dealership has scooped top honours at the 2017 NADA/Sewells-MSXI Business of the Year Awards (BOTY).

Hino Pietermaritzburg came out tops in the category for commercial vehicle dealers in the awards.  Sewells-MSXI SA analyses and evaluates the detailed operating financial data from more than 1 000 local motor dealerships every month as an important tool for the senior management of participating dealerships.

A satisfying win

Commenting on the win Pretesh Singh, the dealer principal of Hino Pietermaritzburg, says it was very satisfying winning the commercial vehicle category of awards after having made this achievement one of the dealership goals for the past three years.

“We have been the winner of the Hino Dealer of the Year award in the internal Bidvest McCarthy competition since 2014 and now we have won BOTY our sights are set firmly on winning the national Hino Dealer of the Year title,” he adds.

Singh says that participation in the Sewells-MSXI monthly financial performance analysis is a very important aspect of his dealer management programme. He also attends the quarterly Sewells-MSXI meetings in KwaZulu-Natal and says these information-sharing get-togethers are also very fruitful.

Top quality service

The success of this thriving business in Pietermaritzburg is based largely on parts and service. This means that providing top quality service with an excellent parts supply is vital, as is customer retention in a very competitive market.

“Regular interaction with our customers is key to our success and here the tools we use include customer open days, new product launches, visits to the Hino manufacturing plant in Prospecton and an annual golf day. In addition, the salespersons are encouraged to get involved with the local community and customers through charity work,” Singh explains.

“Pretesh and his team at Hino Pietermaritzburg put up an outstanding performance in the running of this dealership to come out on top of the 60 commercial vehicle dealerships that participate in our monthly financials analysis and we are pleased that our systems contribute markedly to this ongoing success,” concludes John Templeton, Head of Operations for Sewells-MSXI in South Africa.