City Extra 9th Edition

Sydney City Toyota

CITY EXTRA

Guest service drives our investment

By John Roca, Dealer Principal

I’m over Apps.

I went to catch a plane the other day and discovered the flight had changed - except no one had actively told me: “It’s on your app,” they said. “You had to look.”

Well, when I deal with a company and they want to make an alteration, I expect them to take the initiative to contact me, not the other way around.

At Sydney City Toyota we use apps too – but we make sure they’re pro-active.

When you’re dealing with something as important as your investment in your Toyota, it’s up to us to make sure your experience exceeds your expectation.

That’s why we’re bucking the trend: more interaction, less hiding behind electronic aids.

We’re investing heavily right now in upgrading our sales and service divisions.

In the case of service, we’re streamlining the check-in and departure process to ensure we respect the time you spend with us.

We learned a lot over Covid. Many of our guests want their Toyotas serviced while they wait. Fair enough. We’re now installing hot desks so they can make good use of that time.

Others want to drop off and come back. We’re timing service check-ins against bus-at-the-door and nearby light rail timetables to make it easier.

We want you to come to our dealerships at Waterloo and Glebe and, seriously, have a good time.

The sales experience is something you should really enjoy.

People are saying: “One day you’ll find and buy your car online”. We say, do your laptop research, but nothing beats the see, touch and test drive thrill of choosing a new Toyota.

Over the next few weeks our Waterloo showroom will be undergoing next generation upgrades as we make it an even more inviting environment.

There’ll be a better flow to the displays, and you’ll be able to spend as much time as you like with knowledgeable experts to understand the purchase you’re planning.

While the world seems to be moving towards impersonal, difficult to manage interaction, with long on-hold times and unresolved conversations, we’re seeking to put a modern slant on face-to-face customer service.

We want our guests to regard Sydney City Toyota as part of their solution, not of their problem.

John Roca, Dealer Principal

Is this the best Corolla ever?

There are more than 50million Toyota Corollas in the world - and better than 1.5million are in Australia. We’ve sold many of them.

And just when you think it can’t get any better - what with economic, fuel efficient, environmentally friendly engines and hybrids - it does.

The latest Corolla is a Cross. Part sedan, part hatch, and all SUV.

All functional elements suit the SUV layoutample headroom in the back seat, large windows, large doors for ease of access, even if you’re carrying a sleeping child.

And best of all there’s large and flexible cargo space, with a minimum of 436 litres.

Our guests are telling us they love the visibility from

the driver’s seat – its eye point is 130mm higher than the Corolla sedan.

All up, it’s become the new Corolla of choice. We asked our resident ‘large man’, commentator Mark Warren to give us his views.

Thirty years and counting

Anita Falato measures the 30 years she’s been with Sydney City Toyota in babies.

When each of her three children have been born, she’s taken maternity leave, then returned to a new challenge.

It goes without saying Anita is one of our longest serving team members – she’s now our Guest Experience Manager, working at a high level across our entire franchise. Thirty years have given her immense, and intense, knowledge of the way we conduct our business and she’s been deeply involved in our evolution.

Guest Experience has become the driving force across dealerships nationally. How well our guests are treated defines who we are as a service provider.

There are courses to take and contests to challenge our specialists and it’s with some pride that we acknowledge Anita as a constant high achiever –a Toyota Silver Brand and Guest Experience Manager (there are only 20 of them in the whole country) and winner of the Toyota Guest Experience Masters.

“I enjoy working with our staff across the entire business to make sure each of them understands and works to our expectations of the guest

experience,” she says. “And I really enjoy turning happy guests into loyal ones.”

The last year has been a big challenge.

“Global supply shortages effected the whole industry’s ability to deliver vehicles,” Anita said.

“So, for our brand and our dealerships we put in place a communications plan to make sure we kept our guests informed all the way and focused on providing a super fantastic delivery day experience.”

Anita was particularly pleased when one of her guests shared feedback about how completely satisfied they were with their sales experience – even though they had a long wait for their car.

Anita and her husband Angelo, were married a year after she joined Sydney City Toyota. “It’s how I remember our wedding anniversary,” she jokes.

“It was going to be an interim job between leaving university and starting my teaching career, but I never left.

“The only time I’ve been away has been for the birth of my children Celia, Lachlan, and Emily.”

We’ve taken up Guy’s 180 second challenge

Sydney City Toyota has installed heart defibrillators in strategic locations throughout our premises.

In fact, they’re within 90 seconds of each other.

Seven times Australian iron man champion Guy Leach has started a program called Heart180.

He says if someone suffers a heart attack their chances of survival are far greater if they’re within 90 seconds of a defib. So, allow for 90 seconds to run to a defib and 90 seconds back and that’s Heart 180.

Guy is a good friend of our dealership. He’s one of our ambassadors, and we’re happy to help him, and be helped by him.

The stats are astounding. A hundred people die from a heart attack each day.

Guy has also started an online course in how to use a Defib. “If people aren’t comfortable in using them, then they’re not much good,” he says.” Our 20-minute course gives people the confidence to stand-brave.”

GR86 x 2

The second generation of our pure-bred sports car has hit the showroom - and the streets - as the third member of exclusive performance GR range, joining GR Yaris and GR Supra.

The GR86 sports car now has a 2.4litre boxer motor producing 22kW more power and 38Nm more torque than the original 86. These figures are important to sports car enthusiasts.

86 rewrote the sports-car rule book when it was launched 10 years ago, and it continues to do so today.

Incredibly just under 30,000 people have now done the Heart180 tutorial, including many of our team members.

According to Guy, we’re the first motor dealer to take up the 180second challenge, and we’re proud of that. Our hope is we’ll never have to put it to use.

It’s acclaimed by enthusiasts and motoring experts and if we ever get hold of one in the pre-owned market its immediately snapped up by an eager new owner.

The new GR86 is going to be doubly in demand (hence our headline 86x2).

You’d think that our resident ‘large man’ Mark Warren would be a little big to fit the GR86, but not so. Here’s his enthusiastic report.

We go Green (Civil)

Going green is pretty much a requirement of life these days.

One of our more progressive guests, Green Civil Australia, wears its green credentials on all its vehicles. They’re all painted green.

The very first thing their heavy earth moving machines and their Toyota Hiluxes get when they come on fleet is a two-pack coat, or a wrap, of brilliant Kermit Green.

Green Civil director Eoghan Cashman, a proud Irishman whose been in Australia eleven years, claims its nothing about his country of origin: “My co-director Elio Del-Ben just likes the color.”

It goes a bit deeper than that.

When Elio started the business in 2004, he determined that it would be at the leading edge of environmental responsibility. The company was one of the first to explore the possibility of using recycled building materials like bricks, concrete, and asphalt.

When Eoghan came on board the company moved from residential work into civil construction and it now specialises in works for Data Center’s which are springing up around the country and for infrastructure in the defense industry.

Eoghan and Elio are very particular about the machinery and vehicles they buy and tend to limit their acquisition to suppliers whose values align with their own.

All of our work’s vehicles are Toyota Hiluxes, and we source them all from Sydney City Toyota,” Eoghan said.

“Regular maintenance, resale value and operational efficiency are all factors in why we’ve standardised on Hilux and why we’ve bought from one company.”

Holiday call out

More people are going to be hitting the roads this holiday season than ever before.

Airline confusion is pretty much guaranteeing that.

If you’re travelling some distance, we strongly urge you to have a precautionary service. Con Hatzivasiliou, our General Manager Service, says that should happen at least one week

out from your road trip - “just to give everything a chance to settle down.” Its good advice.

At very least, self-check your Toyota’s fluid levels to make sure everything from your engine oil through to your windscreen washer solution is topped up and ready to go. Here’s a video guide

TOYOTA CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED IN A

CLASS OF ITS

OWN

A car with a pedigree

Toyota’s Certified Pre-Owned vehicle program, or TCPO as we know it, has become the go-to safeguard for people who’ve been buying in the second-hand market while new stocks have been low.

There have been horror stories of people doing private-to-private deals only to find the not so cheap investment they thought they were making cost them more than they ever imagined.

There’s really no such thing as a guaranteed bargain in the private sector.

And it’s going to get worse as the inflated value of the used market comes off.

But one thing that won’t change is the security of purchase under our TCPO plan.

TCPO Toyotas have passed a 90-point check by our qualified technicians, and they come with a 1-year Toyota backed warranty beyond their new-car five-year warranty.

To qualify as a TCPO, a Toyota must be less than 10 years old, to have clocked up less than 160,000 kms, and to have a proven service record - call it a pedigree.

Once its certified, a TCPO Toyota qualifies for special Toyota finance and insurance rates, and right now we’re offering a special $1,000 deposit bonus.

TCPO has become an important part of our structure at Sydney City Toyota, creating a pathway to new vehicles as stocks return.

In that respect alone, its providing value to our participating guests that they’d be hard pressed to match in the private-toprivate market.

Toyota Certified

Massive congratulations to the champ

Aussie boxing legend, Jeff Fenech, has hung his ‘new’ fourth world boxing championship belt in his trophy room, 31 years after the fight.

He was denied the title on a steamy night in Las Vegas in 1991 when judges called his fight with Ghana’s Azumah Nelson as a draw.

The decision was booed by the 15,000 spectators and over the years it’s become regarded internationally as one of world boxing’s greatest travesties.

If Jeff had won he would have become one of a very few greats in the world to have claimed four world titles in four weight divisions.

So, it was a big loss.

This year the world boxing council set out to right the wrong. President Mauricio Sulaiman asked judges around the world to review the fight and their decision, this time, it was unanimous.

Jeff, our very own Marrickville Mauler, had won his title fair and square.

He was presented the belt at a special ceremony in Acapulco, Mexico and his reaction:

“I’m glad I didn’t win it then,“ he said.

“My life would have changed and moved in different directions.

“I probably wouldn’t have met my wife Suzee and we wouldn’t have had our daughters Kayla and Jessica.

“You’ve got to believe in karma.

“I’ve had the world’s best life, met wonderful people, maybe even contributed a bit along the way.”

Jeff was kind enough to acknowledge Sydney City Toyota’s John Roca and his son Jacob as people who’ve contributed positively to his life’s work.

“It’s people like the Rocas who make me glad things worked out the way they did.”

Well – we’re pleased to acknowledge Jeff, too.

He’s a fair dinkum Aussie legend and we’re proud to call him a friend.

The mentor speaks to our guru

Management guru Mark Bouris is a huge fan of the way Sydney City Toyota look after our guests.

Mark is a mentor, but he sees our principal John Roca as a bit of a guru. There’s a lot of mutual admiration going on.

Mark recently featured John on his Mentor Podcast, seeking his guidance on how to make customer retention a win: win for both our dealership and our guests. It’s worth a listen. (Link to Podcast)

36-38 Parramatta Road Glebe, NSW 2037 T 02 9565 6313

Sydney City Toyota WATERLOO

824 Bourke Street Waterloo, NSW 2017 T 02 9690 9999

Sydney City Toyota GLEBE www.sydneycitytoyota.com.au