“What three things?” provided platform for change
The William Morgan Group, a BMW retailer with dealerships in Northampton and Oxford, was under-performing. You could say it was stuck in first gear, and definitely with vroom for improvement!
With group sales of £50m and profits only £800,000, I began working with them in 2012. The initial task was to integrate the new Oxford dealership into the group, but also to look at a new strategy to take the bigger organisation forward and to grow that profitability figure.
Working with William and his team, we helped to create a new strategy and then identify and focus on the three key issues that needed to be addressed. People know about the “what three words” tool which can be used to find your location – we looked at “what three things” could change your location, from standing still to shooting for the stars!
William recalls the new approach which we adopted: “We recruited new people into some key roles. David provided clarity and helped us focus on the key issues identified in our strategy. This prepared a solid foundation which we were able to build upon.”
The strategy was based on good leadership, which started with getting the right people on the bus.
William said: “We identified the three issues we needed to address – getting performance into the top levels of the BMW dealership network, engaging effectively with employees and delighting customers.
“We appointed three leaders within our business to deliver these priorities and we have also now put much more effort into recruiting the people who fit our business culture.”
As a result of our work in helping William to develop the business over the past nine years, William Morgan Group is looking at sales for 2021 of £250m with profits of around £6m.
William concluded: “David’s no-nonsense, pragmatic approach to facilitating the improvements to our business has been invaluable.”