DRIVING FORWARD IN TIMES OF TROUBLE
An award-winning vehicle leasing firm is defying expectations by emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic stronger than ever before. Silverstone Fleet Management managing director Scott Norville reveals why the business is going from strength to strength and its plans for future growth.
When the coronavirus pandemic first hit the UK many businesses in the vehicle trade shut up shop completely – but not Silverstone Fleet Management. While most of their team was initially furloughed, managing director Scott Norville and sales support manager Aby Mason, kept the business going and made sure customers were updated on the progress of their vehicle orders. Although to begin with many clients were forced to cancel their orders the support they received from Silverstone during this period meant they returned to the firm as soon as they could. During the early days of the pandemic, Scott
also began reaching out to county businesses through a series of heartfelt videos on LinkedIn revealing his feelings about the situation. The honesty of his posts struck home with viewers, including Silverstone clients, who responded in their droves with comments and messages of support. “It wasn’t something I’d done before but
strong reputation it has built up since its launch in 2012. It is partnered with four of the UK’s top finance providers which enables it to provide exceptional market leading offers and support to its clients. The family-run firm also has an impressive collection of
‘WE’RE VERY
PROUD TO HAVE A YOUNG, DYNAMIC, ENTHUSIASTIC
the posts really resonated with a lot of people,” explained Scott. “The videos’ reach was phenomenal and it helped to keep our company’s profile up during the early stages of Covid-19. In fact, it proved so successful we decided to keep pushing our video content and we’re continuing to yield positive results from that. “We’ve seen an increase in business the past few months for
various reasons. Firstly, customers aren’t as keen to visit car dealerships, preferring to access an online service. Most car dealerships rely on offering a face-to-face service, they’re not as cut out to offering an online service whereas we’ve been doing that successfully for years. “Lots of clients are also swapping public transport for hire
vehicles. Many people who normally commute from Milton Keynes to London on the train are preferring to lease a vehicle and drive instead. “In August, we saw an increase in our orders of 62% year on
year compared with last August. We’re really busy and have adapted quickly to our clients’ changing needs. Previously, lots of clients were leasing premium band vehicles with an average mileage of 15,000 a year. Now we’re seeing more orders for smaller cars with an average mileage of 5,000 a year because lots of people are continuing to work from home.” Silverstone’s current success has also been fuelled by the
online reviews and a growing hoard of awards. In recent years it has won nine awards, including the Customer Commitment Award at Northamptonshire Chamber’s Northamptonshire Business Awards and the Leasing Broker Federation’s new Spirit of Leasing Broker Award in 2019. It hopes to add more accolades to its name this year having made it to the finals of the Northamptonshire SME Awards for Website of the Year and Service Excellence. Scott said: “We’re proud to have won so
TEAM WHO ENJOY WHAT THEY DO’
many awards because it gives new and existing customers the confidence that they’re in good hands. These awards are also fantastic accolades for our team. We’re very proud to have a young, dynamic, enthusiastic
team who enjoy what they do.” It’s not surprising the business has won
numerous awards for customer service as this has been at the company’s heart since its first year when
Scott decided to focus on customer care first and profit second. During that first year the business completed 50 vehicle orders. Fast forward to 2019 and it handled 756 vehicles. This year the firm was expecting to handle 1,000 vehicles and even with the disruption posed by Covid-19 it is still heading towards that target. The firm also puts its success down to its links with
Northamptonshire Chamber. Many Chamber members are on its client list, including Platinum Business Partner ACS who recently helped Silverstone to refurbish its stunning office in Preston Deanery where it has been based since 2017. Other fellow Chamber members and clients include
Onefoursix Ltd which last year revamped Silverstone’s Track My Car Pro service which enables clients to track the progress of their vehicles right from the point of order. Silverstone’s chosen charity, Cynthia Spencer Hospice, is also a Chamber member and last year it raised £1,400 for the organisation through SingForCynthia. In recent months, the Chamber has also been instrumental
in helping Silverstone to raise its profile even further. “Thanks to our membership of the Chamber we were
recently asked by BBC Radio Northampton to speak about the economy on their Drivetime show,” said Scott. “The presenter was so impressed with our interview they asked us back for a follow-up interview the next day. Off the back of those interviews we had lots of calls from new clients wanting to lease vehicles from us and we saw an increase in enquiries on our website of 45%. The awareness it generated for us was fantastic. “This really is an exciting time for us. Year on year we’ve
Scott Norville and the team at Silverstone
seen a 24% increase in our business and we’re expecting to see the same again in 2021. Next year we’re also planning to recruit four additional staff members which will take our team to 13. In addition, we’ve also set our sights on getting two additional finance providers to give our clients access to even more fantastic opportunities.”
24 inbusiness OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2020
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