Experience

What is my experience? Creating sustainable performance from fragile businesses.

I have spent most of the last 26 years in and around the volatile world of motor retail, where attention to detail and creation of customer and brand loyalty are the only ways to build sustainable and profitable businesses. As such I have never felt able to take any success for granted, sitting still has never been an option. Motor retail usually returns just 1 - 2% on turnover, it's a fragile and high pressure business which, like a bicycle, will fall over as soon as it stops moving forwards.

The principles of maintaining constant forward movement and seeking every minor area for improvement can add value to most business models, even those who may feel relatively comfortable in the short term.

The Toyota factor - The quest for constant improvement

This was of course a central theme to my 14 consecutive years with Toyota, now the world's #1 vehicle manufacturer. My Toyota career started at the age of 30 as Principal of a retail dealership in the UK. From where I progressed to running a distributor/retailer in the Pacific, Sales Director of Toyota in Belgium and more recently as General Manager of Dealer Network Operations for Toyota in the UK. The experience of working closely with Toyota, so widely respected both within and without the industry has been a privilege. The knowledge, training and general approach learned along the way has proved invaluable.