Mercedes-Benz Malaysia, in conjunction with the tenth anniversary of the coveted Mercedes-Benz Service Excellence Award Programme (SEAward) played host to 250 representatives from 85 dealerships around South East Asia and Sri Lanka.
The SEAward is a motivational programme aimed at increasing customer satisfaction in the participating countries. Bringing together Mercedes-Benz dealer representatives from around Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, Philippines and Sri Lanka, the two-day event was an occasion to highlight the importance of the After-Sales business to Mercedes-Benz.
To mark the many SEAward milestones and its tenth anniversary, the conference included several key activities. Dealer representatives heard from Thomas Weigand, Director, After-Sales – Mercedes-Benz, smart and Maybach, Daimler Central/Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia; Roland Folger, President and CEO – Mercedes-Benz Malaysia; Johannes Fritz, Director of Sales and Marketing – Mercedes-Benz Cars, Daimler Central/ Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia and Christian Treiber, Director of Service and Parts Business Passenger Cars – Daimler AG. The speakers highlighted the development and growth plans in After-Sales and Sales and Marketing based on customer satisfaction and customer relationship programmes for Mercedes-Benz in the region.
“I congratulate and express appreciation to all our dealers who have participated and continued to uphold the three-pointed star. This impressive milestone is what we celebrate today. But for me it is also a starting point to create a new spirit to excelling in customer service for the next years. We are aiming at a service-dedicated future based on the effort made by every single one of our staff members,” said Weigand.
Speaking at the celebrations, Roland Folger, President and CEO – Mercedes-Benz Malaysia said, “Mercedes-Benz Malaysia is proud to host the SEAward and celebrate its tenth anniversary with our South East Asian and Sri Lankan dealer counterparts. The SEAward is a testament to ‘going the extra mile’ not just today or tomorrow, but every day. As a pioneer and leader in the automotive industry, Mercedes-Benz has a lifelong commitment to the pursuit of excellence in providing the ultimate lasting experience for our customers.”
Mercedes-Benz has recorded phenomenal growth, particularly within the Asian region. Recognising the integral role its Asian counterparts play in Sales and After-Sales, the SEAward was established to evaluate the performance of service centres. It also serves as a motivating factor towards excelling in customer service. Winning dealers are judged according to an After-Sales Customer Satisfaction Score (CSI) and Net Promoter Score (NPS).
Other activities for the dealer representatives included the opportunity to visit a past SEAward winning Autohaus, Hap Seng Star and a Kuala Lumpur City Tour. The conference culminated with a celebratory dinner at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.
DIMO has accomplished Number one position in the South East Asia Region for ‘Service Excellence’ in After Sales for the year 2014. Gahanath Pandithage, CEO and Tharanga Gunawardena, General Manager – Passenger Vehicles Service who represented DIMO during the SEAward tenth anniversary celebrations, upon returning to the country mentioned that every effort put in by DIMO’s team is truly remarkable as there was no better time to reach the pinnacle and place DIMO and Sri Lanka in the world map than during the SEAward tenth Anniversary celebrations.
