Isuzu has announced its latest Team Elite sales award, an award that has now run for more than 20 years, and the company says, ‘encourages, strengthens and showcases the specialist knowledge of the brand’s salespeople’.
Isuzu says the award is part of its approach to keeping a step ahead of the competition a process it has become very familiar with during its 31 consecutive years of leadership in the Australian truck market.
The company says an achievement of this scale wouldn’t be possible, without the exceptional sales professionalism and support from Isuzu’s national dealer network, which is the the largest in the country.
Isuzu’s Team Elite program is an incentive, points-based competition and it says it is the original truck sales excellence program and goes on to say that its success in cultivating the ‘cream of the Australian truck sales crop’, has seen many of Isuzu’s competitors replicate the model to varying degrees of success.
The Team Elite sales award for 2019 concluded with the National Champion Sales Consultant competition, which was recently held at the IAL head office at Truganina in Melbourne. Each year, three leading sales competitors are selected to participate, stringently chosen from across the 70 strong Isuzu dealer network.
This year, Jason Pinneri from North East Isuzu , Shane Hilder from Webster Trucks and Peter Wyer from Canberra Isuzu were picked to take part in the competition. They were tested on three integral truck sales elements—product knowledge, brand knowledge and truck model–specific knowledge.
The participants are the best of the best; their selection was based on their outstanding performance against sales volume targets and dedication to overall customer satisfaction.
Isuzu says its Team Elite program illustrates the brand’s commitment to training and rewarding the next generation of Isuzu sales performers, who are focused on the building of genuine relationships with Australian businesses.
Mr Pinneri, Mr Hilder and Mr Wyer were tested on their general product knowledge, their knowledge of IAL more broadly and also model-specific familiarity; the participants undertook a series of written and practical examinations, including simulated sales scenarios.
The competition is designed to evaluate not only the competitor’s product knowledge, but also their understanding of the company’s approach to customer relations management (CRM) and their broader commitment to the whole-of-life offering Isuzu has become famous for.
“The three participants all performed outstandingly,” said IAL national sales manager, Les Spaltman
“Their product knowledge, approach to understanding customers’ individual needs, and method of building the appropriate Isuzu solution aligned with the level of excellence we’ve come to expect from our dealers,” said Spaltman.
“We are pleased to announce that Shane Hilder has, yet again, taken out the top award as National Champion in this year’s Team Elite,” he said,
Shane Hilder is no stranger to the crown, winning the title in 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2014.
“This has been a very humbling experience,” Hilder said.
“I am proud to call the passionate and committed people at Webster my team… Most have been around for over 20 years, and with them there’s great rapport, consistency and product knowledge.”
“At the end of the day, it all comes back to hard work and the willingness to go the extra mile,” he said.
“At Webster we aim to go beyond just the sales transaction.
“We fully embrace the suite of products provided by Isuzu Trucks that enable us to fully support our clients over the full life cycle of the truck.”
Les Spaltman concluded and said the Team Elite champions embody what Isuzu has come to expect from the best in the truck selling business.
“Shane is no exception. We are very proud to have such an outstanding winner this year,” Spaltman said.
“His commitment to Isuzu’s high standards of customer satisfaction shines through, and his professional knowledge base saw him excel in all three tested categories.”
