How to build an award-winning motor group

What does it take to run a successful business nowadays? How does a business owner make their business stand out from the crowd? What do you need to do to become an award-winning company?

With major developments in technology, shifts in consumer behaviours and increased customer expectations, operating a modern business, like a motor group, has become complex. Nowadays, customers are wanting more, expecting more, demanding more—which means business owners are constantly having to adapt and change their ways to keep up.

One company who has been constantly adapting their operations for the last 10 years with their customers at the forefront of their mind is Dack Motor Group. Founded by entrepreneur Leo Dack, Dack Motor Group are an independent family run motor business in Lincoln who have transformed from just a workshop with one employee to a business turning over more than £4 million.

We have interviewed Dack Motor Group to explore the secrets of exactly how to build an award-winning motor group.

What drove Leo to set up Dack Motor Group?

Starting in the world of motoring at a young age, founder Leo started his career by washing cars and pumping petrol at a rural car sales outlet in Billinghay, Lincolnshire.

From working there whilst studying at school and after even taking a work experience placement too, Leo eventually took up employment at Twells and rose through the ranks over several years.

After many years of learning the trade in great detail, Leo had the drive to set up an establishment of his own. In 2010, Dack Motor Group was born. 

How has Dack Motor Group grown over 10 years?

First starting out as a Vauxhall specialist, Leo founded Dack Motor Group with just one ramp and a 3,000 square foot workshop. Resolute and hard-working, Leo has transformed Dack Motor Group over a decade from one man and a service ramp to a team of more than 30 employees and a variety of workshops.

In 2019, Leo secured Dack Motor Group with their largest site yet, stretching to grow into other service areas such as car and van rentals, alongside used car sales. Although not sizable enough on paper to warrant the site’s size, Leo negotiated with the landlords to ensure Dack Motor Group could grow quickly and won £400,000 of investment. 

Has technology played a part in your business growth?

In order to gain an edge over our competitors, we realised that Dack Motor Group needed to start implementing things that other motor groups aren’t. For us, this has come from technology. The automotive industry is one fraught with huge gaps when it comes to technology. Where some main dealers and brands have embraced it and made it a part of their offering, others have been left behind, particularly independents.

Dack Motor Group has been notable for its adoption of technology early on and has been key to our growth. Having had multiple websites over the years to keep up with consumer demand and stay ahead of the curve, Dack Motor Group is a local advocate for utilising technology to push forward in an industry where complacency reigns.

What new technology have you implemented?

By investing and researching exactly how we can use technology within our motor business, it has helped us to enhance customer experiences and operational efficiencies.

Some examples include digital key-drop lockers which can be booked online, through to video health checks which use augmented reality to help the customer see a concerning part is unrivalled even with main dealership levels. To compliment that, customers are now able to approve their work within seconds by selecting the items they’d like repairing and approving directly from their mobiles. This is an experience which a lot of main dealerships don’t offer yet and has really given us an edge over our competitors.

What are your secrets to growth?

To grow from a single employee to a site offering multiple vehicle services within a decade is no mean feat. We believe this has all been achieved through a combination of planning, embracing future technology and willingness to take a risk.

Building the right team around you is also essential and we feel a good team culture really enables a business to grow to the next level. Just this year, Dack Motor Group have completely restructured our team by employing a managing director, finance director and a leadership team to help drive extended business growth 

What are the next plans for Dack Motor Group?

Always seeking the next opportunity, the plan now is to grow the group’s offering to more than 100 used cars for sale, to increase the workshop to a 19-ramp capacity and to have a rental fleet of more than 300 vehicles by 2022. By implementing technology, careful planning and having the right team around us, we certainly feel this is achievable.