Action Ford Roodepoort Dealer Principal Peet Venter and his team has brought the branch up to the highest standards, recently being awarded the Dealer of the Year Runner-up award.
Constantia Kloof — ‘He is the captain of this ship.’ This is the general sentiment at the Action Ford Roodepoort branch at 93 William Nicol Drive, Constantia Kloof. But the term ‘captain’, used with some reverence, originally was a casual comment during Peet Venter’s speech in his first week on the job in 2019.
Peet’s career in auto sales started in 2004 as a sales person. It wasn’t long before he was promoted to sales manager, and in 2011 he moved to the Ford Motor Company as sales manager of an Action Ford branch.
In 2013 he achieved international certification through the University of Melbourne in Australia. In 2016 he was promoted to Dealership Principal (DP) at the Krugersdorp branch and in 2019 Peet was asked by the company’s shareholders to take the helm of the Action Ford Roodepoort branch and steer the ship back on course.
Ever since Peet stepped into the role the branch’s main focus has been squarely on customer experience. In fact, entering their brightly lit showroom and being met with the first of many friendly faces, you feel as if you are a guest, not merely a customer.
Michelle Groenewald Guest Experience manager said it best. “If people visit you at your home, you’ll treat them like a guest and not like a customer. At Ford, a customer is no longer a customer, but becomes a part of our family.”
For the first time since the branch was established in 2002, Peet and his highly trained and capable crew were nominated for Dealer of the Year 2021 and received the Runner-up award, essentially saying that Action Ford Roodepoort is one of the highest performing Ford branches among more than 140 branches nationwide. That’s quite a feather in the captain’s cap!
Peet explained that all the branches are monitored and assessed throughout the year on a multitude of criteria, such as the branch’s overall sales, staff turnover, training and whether it is a financially viable dealership.
But, at the very top of the list sits customer satisfaction, and Action Ford Roodepoort shines exceptionally bright in this particular category.
It is currently listed as a Category B dealership by the Ford Motor Company, meaning that they’re among the top 35 highest volume dealers in the country. One of Peet’s next major goals is to reach Category A, which comprises the top 10 dealerships as per volume.
“Someone told me long ago if you work with people, with customers, it’s a very delicate situation and a unique balance to maintain. It’s like having an iron fist in a velvet glove. In order to be successful, you have to be hard on the standards but soft on the people. Doing that, getting that balance right, that’s when you start getting results,” Peet explained.
Every powerful ship has an equally impressive crew operating its engines and maintaining its decks. At Action Ford Roodepoort, five adept managers make sure the ship keeps sailing, and each has a very important function in each of their departments.
Stefan Swanepoel, the New Vehicles Department manager
Stefan has been in the dealership game for about 15 years, lending his expertise to Action Ford Roodepoort from 2013.
“Our goal is to make and keep current and future Ford clients happy. If you’re really looking for great service, you have to come to Action Ford Roodepoort. Our client relationships almost mean more to us than the sale of a car. A happy client will tell others about the good service they received here.”
Stefan is head of a seven-member team which is responsible for all brand-new Ford vehicle sales and, he explained, if they don’t already have what someone’s looking for, they’ll do everything in their power to find it.
Stefan noted that most of their sales currently originate from their online platform as more people have turned to the convenience of finding exactly what they’re looking for on a sleek-design website without having to leave their home and drive from dealership to dealership.
“At the end of the day you still build a relationship with both those coming in and those doing a query online, because you still have that back and forth.”
Action Ford Roodepoort is not limited to the West Rand or Gauteng area, and often delivers vehicles as far as Bloemfontein, Durban and Cape Town.
Quintin Nel, Action Ford Roodepoort’s Pre-Owned Vehicles Department manager
Quintin heads the Pre-owned Vehicles Department and started with the Ford Motoring Company back in 1996. In 2003 he started working in Roodepoort, went to Krugersdorp for a couple of years and came back.
He explained that his and his team’s jobs largely involve finding the best quality vehicles, checking every nook and cranny of the vehicles acquired or to be acquired via trade-in or to be sold by their department, and then ensuring that everything is fixed to perfection before being put on display.
“Buying a pre-loved vehicle from us is as good as buying, so to speak, a new car. We’re very serious about the reconditioning of our vehicles, the quality of our paint work if we repair scratches, and the like. When it comes to repairing certain things and the costs involved, we don’t mess about. We check the whole vehicle and everything we find, we fix.”
Those who cannot afford a new vehicle usually opt for a pre-owned one, and those who choose Action Ford Roodepoort can feel assured that they’re getting the highest quality vehicle possible with excellent after-sales service.
“We’re always looking for quality pre-owned vehicles,” Quintin said. “If people are looking to sell theirs – not just Ford products, all brands – we’re the ones to come to. We will pay top market-related prices for cars.
“We don’t buy at auctions; we like to sell a car of which we know who the owner was because history is important. It’s all about maintaining the customer’s confidence.”
Jaques Prinsloo, Action Ford Roodepoort’s Service Department manager
Jaques Prinsloo has been in the industry for about 17 years, all that time spent at Ford. Jaques manages the Service Department at Action Ford Roodepoort, has 23 people including drivers working in his department and ensures that not a single thing is out of place in any of their and their clients’ vehicles.
“My work here, every day, is to make sure that guests are looked after, from the time a car is booked in telephonically or through the website, to the time we hand it back to them. I make sure everything flows, all procedures are followed, that parts are available, that the staff works according to Ford’s manufacturer specifications, and that we don’t stand still at any point, because tomorrow we see new vehicles come in.”
The delivery department will even pick up and deliver vehicles in need of repairs, and drop off their clients within a 15km radius.
Action Ford Roodepoort has a Classification A workshop, which is the highest classification in the Ford Motor Company’s hierarchy. This means that Roodepoort is able to take on large workloads and get the job done efficiently.
“With Ford, you specialise in a particular field, such as petrol, diesel, electronic, HVAC (air conditioning), breaks, suspension and so on. Our technicians undergo special training and are specialists in Ford’s products and in their fields.”
Tracy Wilken, Action Ford Roodepoort’s Parts Department Manager
Tracy Wilken, has been with the company since 2015. She and her team ensure that the Action Ford Roodepoort shelves are always stocked and that parts are ordered and delivered on time as the branch needs them.
“Everything’s logged on our system. We pull the reports, check the remaining stock and figure out what to stock up with. The service department tells us what they need on their job cards, but for front-counter parts and panel-parts customers we put orders in separately.”
The Parts Department also handles vehicle accessories; additions a client would make at the point of purchase or some time thereafter.
Michelle Groenewald, Action Ford Roodepoort’s Ford Guest Experience manager
Michelle Groenewald, head of the Ford Guest Experience (FGE) is the friendly face which each client, or rather guest at Action Ford Roodepoort will meet early on and be accompanied by throughout their journey of purchasing a vehicle.
“FGE is distinguishably Ford. They came to a point where they asked how they could improve their customer service, to make people feel like guests and provide them with that ‘wow’ experience. It’s making guests feel at home, that they’re a part of this family.”
Michelle is the ear of the company, listening to guests’ wants, needs or complaints, and making sure they leave far happier than when they arrived, hopefully planning on returning to the branch for all their vehicle needs in the future.
“I have interns who will meet the guests at the door, offer them a beverage and walk them through. From there, the sales executive will meet with them to show them the vehicle and go through everything. I’ll make sure the delivery is perfect. We play the guest their favourite song on pickup. We find out a bit more about them to help make it an exceptional experience. The little things make a big difference.”
Action Ford Roodepoort can be contacted by calling 011 858 4280, sending an enquiry email to peetventer@cfaomotors.co.za, visiting the Contact Us section on www.actionfordroodepoort.co.za or visiting the dealership at 93 William Nicol Drive, Constantia Kloof, Roodepoort.
Action Ford Roodepoort is located on 93 William Nicol Dr, Constantia Kloof.
The Action Ford team, Charmaine Jacobs, Michelle Groenewald, Wanda Nel, Peet Venter, Tracy Wilken and Jaques Prinsloo celebrate receiving the Dealer of the Year 2021 Runner-up Award.
Peet Venter, Action Ford Roodepoort’s Dealer Principal is known as the branch’s captain.
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