Testimonials

Many thanks to Ray Harkin and Martec Europe for a fantastic 3 days of training. I would highly recommend Ray as a trainer and the ‘Driving The Sales Process’ course – I’ve taken a lot away from the course and have much to apply to my role at Lexus!

George Sharrard,
Steven Eagell Lexus

Brian Downes from MSL Motor Group in Northern Ireland talks over his experience with Martec and gives some great feedback. Thanks Brian!

Brian Downes,
MSL Motor Group

“We approached Martec in July 2019, after recent work they had done with one of our Brands during the past year. We were looking to analyse and understand how our good sales performers could stretch their sales telephony skills further to become great salespeople. We partnered with Martec and took on their critiquing tool, EnquirySuccess™. We created a programme to enable our senior and line management teams a high level and detailed analysis on how effective our salespeople were at call handling. We could monitor and review behaviours, skills & techniques and outputs of appointment conversion, which enabled us to focus on driving our performance levels with a selection of salespeople. We are delighted that in the last 7 months or so, our rolling 12 monthly sales rate has improved significantly with the sales executives on the programme, which is a brilliant result. Our management teams are very happy and we’d be happy to recommend Martec’s services.“

Andy Hicks,
Listers Group Ltd

“Just to reiterate that since the Martec training provided, a good number of our technicians have upped their CitiNow video to the next level. Beforehand we were lucky to have a video that techs spoke in, now we have lots of customer comments about the quality of the video, how informative it is and that it makes it easier to understand what their car needs. It has also helped us sell VHC, work more effectively and improved our customers trust in the retailer.”

Jessica Denton ,
Lookers Group

“We have an internal programme at Sytner called deep dive and by using the skills I learnt with Martec, Sytner have used one of my calls in a best advice programme! I was so pleased!”

Lucy Ashley,
Sytner

“We have had a strong relationship with Martec since we started working with them in 2011, on a sales telephone performance programme. Over the last few years, we have improved our sales telephony appointment effectiveness hugely. Initially our conversions were at 22% and at our peak we saw 75% appointment conversions. This came from measurement of our sales teams skills & behaviours, through Martec’s EnquirySuccess™ platform, allowing us to measure, monitor, coach and develop our people further. Martec delivered ‘best advice’ learning modules to further enhance and support everyone. Today, we continually measure these skills. More recently we deployed Martec within our Audi Service centres, to work on a similar programme with our Service Advisors. I am pleased to say we are starting to see improvements in our peoples behaviours, skills and the outcomes these bring. We’d be more than happy to recommend Martec’s services to anyone within the network”.

Mark Morris,
Vindis Group

Paul Lacy is the Divisional Aftersales Manager for Listers, Paul gives a brief overview of his experience with Martec.

”We looked at Martec with a view of supporting our team members skill set in the delivery of consistent advice to our customers. Martec understood our business and worked with us to deliver a solution that was tailor-made to our teams. The support from all Martec colleagues has been both professional and human, which is an important prerequisite for us. We would not hesitate to recommend Martec to any business and they are always up for a cup of tea.”

Paul Lacy,
Listers

“Just wanted to share some comments with you all regarding our experience with Martec so far.

“From a Customer Contact Centre perspective, my view of Martec is very positive indeed. The training delivered by Terry has been second to none. All of the team are clearly engaged with his training methods and his enthusiasm and this is certainly starting to make a difference with the team in such a short space of time.

“I personally believe that the system used for listening to calls and the way the scoring is handled is of a very high standard. We don’t focus on calls necessarily on a case by case basis, as we look more at trends (which I believe is the best way of making improvements generically across a team or division).

“My experience with Craig is also very commendable. Craig, Terry and Patrick are a delight to speak with and they are all very professional and welcoming to us as customers.

“Please pass on my thanks to all concerned, especially those people listening to all of the calls and taking the time to diligently provide us with insight into a core aspect of our business.

“All the best to Martec for 2019.”

Adrian Tomlinson,
Snows Group

Allen Scott is the Group Communications and Marketing Director for Snows Group and gives a brief overview of our partnership so far and the results.

Allen Scott,
Snows Group

“I found the training refreshing that we had such energetic, positive trainers who not only talked the talk but also were willing to get involved and demonstrate the effectiveness of the word track on live calls with the guys.

“I think the participation element in the training itself was bang on, just the right amount and although there was some role play, it didn’t feel awkward or difficult at all which can happen often I have found in the past.

“In terms of the call out session itself, the team were really upbeat and positive and there was definitely a great vibe and buzz in the showroom during the calls. Everyone either managed to make at least one appointment on the evening or certainly the following day. There were lots of positive next actions with customers too.

“To sum it up, it was a great day, everyone took something from the course, even if it was just one word such as “proposition” instead of deal or offer. It is a very simple but very effective use of the word I have found since.

“If the rest of their training is anything like that then I can’t wait for the next one!”

IT & Marketing Director,
Birchwood Group

“Regarding our training last week, I felt that it was a success. Most training courses I always find go over my head as they simply are not engaging/entertaining and can be very much scripted with too many slideshows.

“However with Martec, I felt that it was actually very motivating, energetic and grabbed our attention with a lot of stuff that we as a team are now using when picking up the phone.

“The fact they actually joined us that evening and got stuck in too was a great kick for us, as most training courses sometimes you can feel like saying “well you are telling us how to do something, show us how it is done” and that they don’t follow through.

“If all of our training courses were done by Martec in the same structure for future, then would we would benefit a lot more from it.”

Sales Executive,
Birchwood Group

“Admittedly the “presumption” was that the majority of the course would be based around the telephone call itself, some role plays and a script with which to work from/with.

“However we couldn’t have been more wrong – the content was much more about the background of a customer’s journey, the importance of the role the entire Service team plays in order to make every call easier for both us and customer and also some key words and phrases, that if used correctly, can certainly help avoid customer objections.

“As always, Natalie delivered a great training session and myself and the team here came away with several new thoughts and ideas towards delivering a better/smoother customer experience via the telephone.

“For those who haven’t already attended, I personally couldn’t recommend it enough!”

Lee Potts,
Lookers Volkswagen

“The half days training refresher that I attended with Martec trainer Gavin I really enjoyed.

“Gavin made an impression and would go down as one of the best trainers I have had. As a rule of thumb with any training I always have in mind to come out with at least one new method or focus that has been learned that could be applied in day to day. I found after coming out of the training with Gavin there was at least 2-3.

“Would recommend this training to anyone that hasn’t been on it.

“The Martec training was a great training course also giving me new idea on how to handle customer objectives!”

Lloyd Motor Group,

“I just wanted to drop you a note to say how very pleased I was with the day today.

“The turnout of 64% was better than expected but what totally blew me away was the quality of the candidates.

“To get 14 candidates from those that attended goes to show that there are great people out there that are attracted to our industry.

“I think the team were surprised at the success but for me, the way the candidates bonded and were swapping telephones numbers at the end was an indication they too enjoyed the day.

“Well done!”

Gary Phipps,
Vantage Motor Group

Peter Toop,
Vindis Group

‘I came with the mind-set that there was not a lot I was going to get from this training and I left with a bucket load of changes in the language that I use’

Service Advisor,
Lookers Volkswagen Aftersales

‘We first started using IP:Mentor™ for one of my colleagues and it worked really well. I felt he bought in to it more than he would, particularly the face – to – face training element because it was one to one. This had much more of an impact on him and he has now started to use the techniques in the real environment.

Some of our other guys are currently two sessions in and are already being very positive. They are now using the right words on the telephone and we have started to see results, which is fantastic!

Sometimes you have to persuade people about training but with Martec’s IP:Mentor, they have brought into it straight away and I think this is because of the format and Nicky herself, both are very good!’

Lee Taylor,
Mercedes-Benz Bishops Stortford

Michael Randall,
Volkswagen Dorchester

“The new TelephoneSuccess™ system is very clever, especially the ‘send me a report’ function and the ability to personalise the system with different widgets makes it a very proactive website which encourages us to maximise its use.

The bones are the same as before but you can now see everything in an improved visual manner which is clearer and draws attention to elements that I didn’t know about before. The layout is fantastic and I feel we can now gain a competitive edge for the business.”

James Tayler,
Jaguar Land Rover

“My first reaction was ‘I want it!’

Martec’s new TelephoneSuccess™ system is brilliant, especially the new ‘super dashboard’, all the different colours makes finding the information you want much easier and the new lead table means sales enquiries are not missed.

Having one place where I can access both sales and service information and see how the business is performing overall is fantastic. In fact, it’s the only place where I can obtain an overview of my dealership easily without having to resort to spreadsheets.

I am confident the new TelephoneSuccess™ system will be a massive help and it will allow my team to see that the opportunity is there and act on it effectively.  It’s such a good investment by Martec.”

Mark Naughton,
Inchcape Mercedes Benz

“As for Mentor it is a stand alone client prospecting system designed to Sell Cars and written by industry professionals who have done the job and know what is required. It will also instantly produce a suite of reports that assist management to measure programme and executive effectiveness and will produce activity reports that would ordinarily take hours to formulate.

I personally have worked with system on two previous occasions once at Chapel House Motor Group and secondly at Zayani Investments and to be honest could never have worked without it, the comparison with AS400 is a complete none starter as AS400 is a tool that dealers in the UK mainly through the Rover network used in the early 80’s.

The system tracks everything from the moment that the phone rings, if anything the group could benefit from this system immensely.”

Mark Kenworthy,
AMMENA - Aston Martin Middle East

I must admit initially I was sat thinking exactly what you said I would be sat there thinking – ‘why am I sat here when I’ve so many other things to be doing’?

I have been on a couple of similar courses with other providers.

The Martec course was far better, more relevant to what we are trying to achieve with a telephone enquiry and I thought that they had some brilliant lines and hooks to get the enquiry to appoint or commit on our car.

It just made me sit and take stock and reflect how important that incoming call is and question how seriously we take it.

I returned back to MINI full of enthusiasm about the day, Sammy has since been and thought very much the same.

It may have been a day out of the business in a busy month but it was a day well spent. It is a day that everyone attending should do so with the mind-set that they will take learn something new which in turn will help them sell more cars!

Paul Temple,
Lloyd Mini Carlisle

Thanks for a good day yesterday.

I really enjoyed it and found it valuable as a novice to the retail/sales industry and I know it will help me develop my skills.

As a previous adult educator I was also impressed by the blended learning approach and the way you managed a boisterous group of “lads”, well done.

I’m interested in how your expertise would translate to other industry sectors, such as Higher and Further Education (in one of my previous roles as Business Development Manager)

I will pass on your details and I will recommend you to some of my current colleagues.

Once again, cheers for a worthwhile day!

Andy Sullivan,
Lloyds Honda Motorcycles

Martec is useful, easy to use and the support they give is really good.

The biggest benefit of the Martec telephone system is how we use it to coach our sales people and uncover performance issues by listening to the calls and using it as a tool!

My favourite experience with Martec was when Neil came in and spent time working on our team Performance and Achievement.

Nick Turner,
Lookers Land Rover

Ben asked his salespeople what they thought of their recent training… And these are some comments and words he received…

“I received many great phrases from the training such as, ‘engaging’, ‘fun’, ‘positive’, ‘thoughtful’. I even had a ‘reflective’ from one individual! (Quite emotive for a Sales Executive)

I would like to say that having Martec as a partner again for our coaching needs has been a breath of fresh air and everyone who has attended has found it both exciting and informative.

Thanks again all.”

Ben Archer,
Arbury Bromsgrove

Jordan Duckett, General Sales Manager at Emirates Motor Company, the official Mercedes-Benz distributor in UAE, chose Martec’s enquiry management system Mentor.netTM after considering three other competitor systems.

“It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, customers expect dealership staff to communicate with them and provide the information they require. As the sales process progresses, customers want to be kept in the loop and there are a number of vital touch points which can be easily missed in an extremely busy retail environment that make all the difference to the eventual outcome. Having a system in place which records all enquiries and prompts the sales team to maintain compelling and meaningful contact with prospective customers has a massive impact on our ability to convert leads into sales. Capturing all the information on anyone who makes contact with us also acts as a much-needed safety net and enables the management team to track how we are treating people on an individual basis.

Sales processes and customer habits are the same wherever I have worked, but the Middle East automotive sector is in its infancy. This has allowed me to mirror similar functions at work in the UK at EMC, such as leasing, finance and insurance and CRM systems, which have had large impacts on our business growth.

Whilst I hadn’t used the Mentor programme in the UK, the Martec name was familiar as it is well known as providing the kind of systems and training which nets results, so when it was introduced to us by our Mercedes Benz regional sales manager Glenn Matthews, I had no hesitation in taking it up, but not before I had compared it to other options.

There are many systems out there but the difference with Mentor is that it is written and operated by a business which lives and breathes automotive retail. We immediately recognised this as a system that was simple and easy-to-use, but gave us all the essentials needed to improve our business. The team at Martec more than matched their professional reputation being excellent to deal with as they understand both IT solutions and how a dealership operates.

What really stands out is the Martec team’s recognition that one size does not fit all and their willingness to create a bespoke system which best suited our business combined with a concrete understanding of the individual factors at play in working in the Middle East.”

Jordan Duckett,
Emirates Motor Company - Mercedes Benz

Just to let you and the team know, fantastic start, both of todays appointments have been in and both have ordered new cars.

I received great service from the guys at Martec and the results were brilliant, 6 sales overall is a great outcome!

They proved an asset to the team and we will be using Martec in the future.

Well done and thank you!

Stuart Alcorn,
Regal Motors

Ricky Rose was on a training course with Martec at Steven Eagell Toyota. At the time he had recently joined the industry as a trainee salesperson practising part of the telephone process!

He commented “I was on a training course with Martec Europe and our homework was to come up with a script – so I came up with the rap that combines the two passions of my life, music and cars”

Ricky Rose,
Steven Eagell Toyota

The latest programme was commissioned by Steven Eagell Toyota. Steven Eagell is expanding rapidly and is always looking to recruit new candidates. When the Recruitment lines closed we had over 90 candidates invited to the Recruitment events.

Steven Eagell’s Yanis Kapitanis said:

“It is very encouraging to be a part of these days as I have seen many come and go. However, when visiting the different Steven Eagell dealerships it’s amazing to see the Sales people that Martec helped to select after the all-day selection course.

This is because of the buzz and atmosphere created by Ray Harkin and his team, along with the Managers and Directors of Steven Eagell Toyota.

The banter and the humour help relax the candidates and at the same time the balance of professionalism is still evident. I look forward to the next recruitment day as The Steven Eagell group continues to grow with the help of Martec and its team of professionals”

Yanis Kapitanis,
Steven Eagell Toyota

When Richard Neulaender, Managing Director of Colbornes Group established a vision for his newly acquired business he was very succinct and very clear when he said, “The experience we give our customers and staff will make us the genuine business of choice”.


He believed that to deliver the company vision he would need to establish a robust top-to-bottom sales process providing a consistent approach at individual, team and executive level and then reinforce the process with training and ongoing coaching to ensure that every member of staff could buy in to and execute against the vision.

Richard had worked with Martec Europe before he acquired Colbornes and knew exactly how they could help him. “If you are serious about your business you have to plan for success and I knew that Martec could help me do that as they offer a range of joined up solutions that have relevance right across the business” 
Colbornes worked together with Martec with a tailored telephone and face-to-face sales training programme with ongoing individual follow-up coaching sessions.

Richard says: “We are very aware that today customers have more choice than ever before, so I have made it our business to maintain levels of customer experience that excel. Martec, with their knowledge of the business built into their solutions are continuing to provide us with the support we need to maintain our performance levels across the Group.”

Richard Neulaender,
Colbornes Group

When we started our sales trainee programme there were a number of large training firms asked to tender one of whom was Martec. We awarded it to them as we felt they wanted it more and our decision has proved to be correct.

Right from the start their enthusiasm has been infectious and played a large part in the success of the project. Both Neil and Ray have worked the hours required to get the job done and no task has proved too much. Their input has been very well received by all at Agnews and they have managed to forge some very good relationships with both the sales managers and sales staff.

The relationship with the sales trainees themselves has been crucial to the success. Where Ray was particularly hard on some of them at the start they have responded very well and taken to both Ray and the company.

The ideas, experience and the energy which Martec have put into the project have taken the pressure off the staff at Agnews and largely allowed us to carry on with our day to day jobs.

Andrew Agnew,
Angew Group

The focus on delivering a consistent message couple with the monitoring of delivery effectiveness has enabled us to significantly improve our sales appointment rates. The maximising of every sales opportunity has never been more important than in this period of sharp economic difficulty.

As with most great processes simplicity is the key. However, this does not detract from the quality of management reports we have available to help with the monitoring of our business.

Allen Scott,
Inchcape Retail

At BMW Group Ireland we identified an important training requirement in our dealer network for our after sales customer facing staff. We researched and engaged with various training companies, including our own training academy, to meet this requirement.

We chose Martec as they were best able to offer a bespoke training solution to our network needs, uniquely offering in house training in the dealerships, thus training the delegates in their normal working environment.

The outcome of this training was very positive to BMW Group Irelands the profitability of our dealer network, the personal development of the delegates and more importantly assisting in improving the customer satisfaction of BMW and Mini Customers.

John Bolger,
BMW Group Ireland

“Without question the MENTOR system has enhanced the sales processes within the dealership. Prospecting has been carried out, customer information has been formally logged, demos and handovers are recorded in a much more professional manner. The customers are very happy with the system and they like the fact we value their enquiries more, purely by texting them a ‘thank you for your enquiry’ message etc. It has certainly enhanced our CSI rating and improved our closure rate. I do believe that it has given us a competitive advantage within our market place. Without question, I would recommend this system to another dealership.”

Paul Higham,
John Pease Motorcycles

The Driving Service Performance™ training went down really well and has had a great impact on the team.

Course attendees have definitely learned some new telephone techniques to help them sell.

Thank you to Martec for the positivity and fun you’ve added to the team’s development.

David Coleman,
Stephen James BMW

I have known Martec for many years, and have the first hand experience of their training processes.

I have been considering a wave of training when one of my most trusted contacts recommended Martec, which was the affirmation that I was making the right choice.

Guy Jenner,
HWM Aston Martin

We were introduced to Martec Europe by Tom Murphy at Murphy & Gunn over a year ago.

When we meet it was clear to me that we had met the right training organisation that could help stretch our business in the areas we needed the most focus. Martec came with a proven track record of successes and in December 2012 we began our long term partnership.

During this year Martec have provided us with evidence based tools to measure our return on investment, by using TelephoneSuccess™ we can see and hear the outcomes to our fresh sales enquiries and more than that measure the effect the training is having.

Halfway through the year we embarked on some Service training, mainly focussing on the Customer Experience and improving our skills at selling more red and amber work, ultimately with our aim to sell more hours and parts.

Martec have been working with the team for almost a year now and we have seen significant improvements in all areas of our business, all my employees enjoy the coaching sessions they have and are seeing the benefit of change.

Paul Linders,
Linders Group

The improvement in the first 12 months was impressive, but the real game changer came when we worked the Martec review system into every aspect of our daily business activities.

The management insights that we gained are invaluable and our appointment performance across service and sales is leading the way within our network.

Martec and our business are now intrinsically linked across all areas of our business, from lead generation to service booking efficiency, and our Customer Contact Hub and the benefits of this relationship have been huge.

Jamie Vindis,
Vindis Group