Oman’s Most Trusted Brands: Interview with CEO of Mercedes-Benz Oman

The current economic slowdown in the GCC region amid weakness in oil prices and growth have affected almost all sectors in 2017. However, many economic experts are predicting a moderate recovery in 2018. What is your outlook for the luxury automotive sector?

I have a positive outlook for the luxury automotive sector and many other sectors for 2018. Our industry, like all others in the region, has felt the effects of the market downturn in recent years. However, I arrived in Oman last year and I have to say in 15 months, I have already seen a shift in the market, which indicates signs of recovery. We have an exciting year ahead with new additions coming to our already award winning line-up.

How does Mercedes-Benz view the emergence of electric vehicle technology?

Over the course of our long history in the auto industry, our innovations have been at the forefront of nearly every paradigm shift and development that have shaped vehicles on and off the road. Electric and hybrid vehicles are no exception as we have and will continue to make significant investments that will transform cleaner mobility. This region has been a late adaptor to these types of vehicles; however, I believe that they will play a role in the automotive sector in Oman in the coming years.

Do you think there are enough resources (for e.g., lithium) globally available in the path to an all-electric future for the auto sector?

As with all finite resources, we can expect to reach a peak in production at some point and this applies to oil, lithium or others. It is premature to make any firm conclusions about future resource discovery and production. With that said, there is one significant difference between lithium and oil; and that is that there are substitutes for lithium that can be used in batteries.

From what I know, we are still in the beginning phases of discovery when it comes to this sector and every day I am reading some amazing advancements in this area. As a business we have made our own significant investments with our ‘Concept EQ’ model and I believe we will set the benchmark for performance, technology and safety in this field for other car makers to follow.

What are the main factors for the success of the Mercedes-Benz brand in Oman?

We as a brand are over 130 years old and that in itself brings weight to what we do, but we have been in Oman for over 40 years and I think that has been one of the key factors. We have grown here alongside this country and witnessed so much progress and development within that time. We have been lucky enough to be a part of this progress and have developed an amazing team here at Zawawi Trading Co – the authorised general distributor of Mercedes-Benz in Oman.

From the perspective of the Omani customer, they are discerning individuals and they want not only a trusted brand, but the performance and high level of service that goes with it. We live and breathe our promise of ‘the Best or Nothing’ and this is a part of everything we do, everyday here.

We are here to not just sell cars, we are here to be of service to our customers for the lifetime of ownership. We have also invested heavily in customer initiatives and customer handling process improvement over the last few years. This is to ensure our customers receive the best experience possible when they drive through our gates.

Whether they have bought one car from us ten years ago or ten cars in the last two years, both of those customers should enjoy the same level of service and aftersales care. Our relationship with our customers here is personal and that applies to both passenger cars and commercial vehicle customers. We are in a culture that values relationships and respect and I believe our success has resulted from our continued commitment to both.

Given that customer satisfaction is the number one reason for repeat business, what kind of quality control activities has Mercedes-Benz Oman put in place to assess customer services that your employees provide on a real-time basis?

As mentioned, our core business focus has been on customer service and customer processing initiatives. This is because service matters. Customers remember service and their experience above all else. Most recently, we held an ‘Our Passion –Best Customer Experience’ programme for over 100 of our customer facing staff.

This four day training brought together our team to focus solely on customer service within our business. It was a large investment of resources, time and personnel, but the gains from these types of initiatives are infinite. I guarantee if you do not invest in developing your staff and improving service, you will feel the effects on your bottom line. For me, I have already seen the benefits of this programme and I am looking forward to doing more next year.

We have also rolled out a number of services and programmes during 2017 to benefit our existing customers. Our comprehensive care package is a good example. It is a service designed for our customers who drive a car that was registered before January 1, 2010. We want to make sure our customers, even those that bought a car over a decade ago, are still benefiting from our aftersales care and service and are enjoying maximum driving pleasure every day.

We also brought our innovative SmallRepair programme to Oman Avenues Mall over a Friday and Saturday. The innovative SmallRepair programme fixes minor damage on vehicles without timely and expensive repairs. We also opened this service to other luxury branded vehicles. Small dents and paint chips happen in the course of driving your car and when you take a lot of pride in your vehicle, as our customers tend to do, this really takes away from the enjoyment of driving. These damages can also be expensive to fix and with many economic pressures these days, we needed a service that addressed the damage but was also affordable. SmallRepair does both.

I am very proud of these two programmes because they are about making sure customers are having the best possible experience every day in their Mercedes-Benz car. This approach and philosophy is unique to our brand and it’s something customers appreciate. Too often customers feel the best service they have is at the point of sale and they are then forgotten. For us, you are just as important to Mercedes-Benz at year 15 as you were at the time of the sale.

Awards are nothing new for a reputed car maker as successful as Mercedes-Benz. In fact, your promise of ‘the Best or Nothing’ itself is suggestive of your guiding philosophy. How do you enthuse every employee to live up to this motto?

We have such an inspiring team at Mercedes-Benz Oman. I really believe that without them, we couldn’t do what we do. Obviously we are a consumer-based business and therefore to work with us, you need to want to work in a customer service based industry.

With that said, I believe firmly that the only way to engage our staff and inspire them to live up to our promise of ‘the Best or Nothing’ is a top down approach, what I mean by this, is that first and foremost our most senior team members lead by example.

We show that we are also as dedicated to our promise as we expect them to be - that’s a critical factor for me in our recent success. It really does not matter whether you are the CEO or the car cleaner, we all have a role to play in providing service to our customers to the highest possible standard. As a result, I heavily invest in training and development of our employees in customer care and will continue to do throughout next year and beyond.