Karnataka dealer surging forward with well-defined long-term strategy
This 65-year-old ‘friend’ of Tata Motors since 1954 is growing by leaps and bounds – with a clear strategy and forward-looking approach and helmed by the young third generation today. Established by the Founder – Managing Partner, late Aroor Sripathi Rao, Arvind Motors, has evolved from the original Shankar Vittal – company founded by the father of Mr. Sripathi Rao in 1929 with a total of six buses. Circumstances enabled Mr. Sripathi Rao to take up the dealership of erstwhile TELCO and it was then that Arvind Motors included trucks besides buses in its dealership.
Now being ably led by Mr. A. Arjun Rao, Arvind Motors is surging forward aggressively to cater to a broader customer base in Karnataka. Today, Arvind Motors offers its vast customer base a wide range of Tata vehicles – from light and intermediate commercial vehicles like Ace, 407, Magic – the passenger version of Ace mini-truck and Ace Zip, 1109 and the latest addition which is 1518, then buses and vans from 12 to 54-seaters including the 15-seater winger and small passenger commercial vehicle like Magic Iris, besides trucks up to 40-50 tonner and tractor-trailers.
Mr. Arjun Rao, Director, shares: “To me it is a legacy which I am proud to continue. Since 2010 when I joined the business I have fallen in love with it. This is what makes me grounded.”
Mr. Rao is expertly mentored by Mr. B.R.M. Prasad, VP – Sales & Marketing, who joined the dealership in 1983 and has witnessed its evolution along with the Tata brand that they service and the industry too. Mr. Prasad says: “I had the opportunity of working with the first generation and of course our beloved MD, Mr. Aroor Kishore Rao. Earlier, we were in the seller’s market, and there were only two players in India. Arvind Motors though began small, today we have one of the world class workshops in Mangalore and of course we have recently inaugurated a new showroom in Bangalore. We have evolved with Tata Motors over the years and we will continue to do so.”
The big dream
Embracing the lovingly nurtured dream of his predecessors, the young turk Mr. Rao is aiming to reach higher. In his own words: “It is my dream to make Arvind Motors the number one dealership in India compared to other dealers. In Karnataka, we are one of the top two dealers. But pan-India, we still have a long way to go. Every year, Tata Motors holds a conference where they award the dealers based on their performance. It is a dream for us to receive the best dealer award.”
Currently, Arvind Motors is clocking about 650 vehicle sales a month from both its Bangalore and Mangalore outlets. Mr. Rao shares: “Our aim is to reach 1,000 vehicles from Bangalore and Mangalore together soon. And in alignment with that vision, we have recently opened a 30-bay state-of-the-art workshop for smaller vehicles in Mangalore.”
Tapping into the customer psyche
Over the years as the automotive industry modernized and then opened up to invite multi-nationals and world-class brands, customer demand has evolved too. With the spending power going up, now there are healthy numbers of single-owner truck buyers and fleet owners are growing too. Mr. Rao talks about what attracts the customers and the measures taken by them to retain the customers: “Building and maintaining a relationship is crucial. We go to their doorstep to meet their requirements. We do not wait for them to come to us. The competition is so high nowadays. Over the years, we have grown our customer database so strong that we just have to call the customer and based on that relationship they buy.”
Mr. Prasad adds: “Today we pitch in to support our customers every which way – be it AMCs, onsite or on road services. We understand our customer’s constraints that maintenance may not be his cup of tea. Hence, we go to the extent of promising him that we will put his vehicle back on the road within 48 hours or compensate him in case we are unable to do that. Today Tata Motors chip in too with the insurance. We assure the customer that in case of an accident we will be there to help but if we cannot put the vehicle back on the road within 15 days then we pay them the penalty. For trucks, it will be within a month. That is the kind of comfort we offer to our customers.”
The not-so-obvious advantage in this is that its revenue has increased along with the margin on the vehicles because the prompt service assures the customers of Arvind Motors’ reliability.
Nurturing the dealers
Arvind Motors swears by the continuous support that they receive from Tata Motors. Says Mr. Rao: “Tata offer us sales-targeted incentives which help us to grow our revenue. Then they have many schemes for customers as well which makes it easier for us to make the sale. Tata have begun value added services for customers, and for dealers. There is something called channel partner scorecard through which they monitor the dealer’s market share, volumes and manpower. The moment we achieve those targets they give us the target-based incentives. They make sure that the dealer not only survives but thrives.”
Tata Motors also helps its dealers by training the manpower. Mr. Rao shares: “Recently they have introduced these electronic tabs instead of brochures, so now our executives are more professional in their approach when they go to the customers and show the product on the tabs.”
Talking about the efforts that Arvind Motors makes towards empowering its manpower, Dr. Ronald Sequeira, Head – HR, says: “At our workshop in Mangalore – which is the biggest that we have with 70 bays – we have a 3D training theatre for drivers. Here, any fleet owner can send their drivers, and even owner-drivers can come to brush up on their skills or train themselves for Tata’s latest models.”
Customers are cared for
Arvind Motors nurtures its customers with its ‘best’ after-sales service, says Mr. Rao: “We are focusing now on same day delivery.”
Mr. Prasad assures: “When we introduced the new generation vehicles, the local mechanics were not competent enough to take care of them. Hence, we have taken up a project in training them. To make sure that are giving a qualitative output, we go onsite and on road servicing of the vehicles to supervise. And for the tippers, we have set up a container workshop right at that site. So it is a 24/7 service that we offer to the customers. This way they save the downtime. For the breakdown vehicles we have six dedicated vehicles for ATMs – all time mobile workshops – which allow us to reach within two hours in Bangalore.”
Roadmap ahead
In the pipeline for Arvind Motors is its plan to enter body building segment by way of catering to its customers. Mr. Rao explains: “Our customers take couple of months to build the body. We want to render it as an immediate service. It could be Ace bodies, or even for tippers. We may start it this year.”
Arvind Motors have main workshops in eight locations across Karnataka besides four in Bangalore.
Last year, Arvind Motors was conferred with five awards by Tata Motors including for the best M&HCV market share, best employees’ contribution to productivity, and for being the highest sellers of MCV buses.
Arvind Motors’ USP is the wide range that Tata Motors has. And that is but one way Tata Motors takes care of this loyal and long-term preferred partner!