AUTOMOTIVE
MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT
Our Interim Management service provides support for your business when you need it most.
We also provide training and one-on-one mentoring for you and your management team.
AUTOMOTIVE
About us
Automotive Management Development...
…or simply AMD, is a boutique consulting and interim management firm that helps the leading automotive companies unlock value and transform to win. We equip management to make the right decisions fast by turning information into actionable, intelligent insight, thereby realising actual business growth.
In addition to the above, we assist with the continuity of business units when senior positions are vacant by supplying experienced management for interim periods.
Our unique offering includes bespoke training, the development and management of mentoring programmes and data analysis. Our Interim Management service provides support for your business when you need it most.
We also create easy-to-navigate, functional tools, dashboards and other systems to help dealerships simplify and manage data.
About us
Automotive Management Development...
…or simply AMD, is a boutique consulting and interim management firm that helps the leading automotive companies unlock value and transform to win. We equip management to make the right decisions fast by turning information into actionable, intelligent insight, thereby realising actual business growth.
In addition to the above, we assist with the continuity of business units when senior positions are vacant by supplying experienced management for interim periods.
Our unique offering includes bespoke training, the development and management of mentoring programmes and data analysis. Our Interim Management service provides support for your business when you need it most.
We also create easy-to-navigate, functional tools, dashboards and other systems to help dealerships simplify and manage data.
WHAT WE BELIEVE IN
Educating and empowering management to understand and interpret data correctly.
Our story
Marc
De st Pern
Marc’s deep-seated experience in financial and statistical management in the local and global automotive industries has helped transform more than three companies for nearly twenty years.
RESUME
- Chartered Accountant (SA)
- 18 years’ experience in the automotive retail and wholesale/importer industry in South Africa and Australia.
- Experience ranges from senior financial to senior operations roles in Barloworld Motor Retail, SuperGroup and EAISA (Maserati SA).
- Passionate about financial and statistical data and its impact on operations.
- Have a mission to transform the industry:
– To make it an industry of choice.
– To make it an industry where individuals have career aspirations.
Why use AMD
We have a proven track record in improving profitability in automotive businesses.
We tailor-make and customise solutions in line with your budget.
We have in-depth knowledge on how to turn financial and statistical information into intelligent insights.
Our comprehensive product offering is easy and unlike anything else on the market.
Personal, hands-on support throughout the entire process, and beyond.
We have twenty years of experience in Dealer Principal and senior financial management roles in South Africa and Australia with leading dealer groups.
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Contact us
our strategy
ANALYSE - UNDERSTAND - FOCUS
ANALYSE
UNDERSTAND FOCUS
what we see
the problems
Senior Managers are running multi-million rand businesses not understanding what the numbers say/mean and/or how they should react on them.
Senior Management Staff Turnover often results in periods where dealerships or departments lack a leader and the performance and controls in the dealership or department dip, making the new managers first few months more challenging than necessary.
Senior Management Staff Turnover often results in periods where dealerships or departments lack a leader and the performance and controls in the dealership or department dip, making the new managers first few months more challenging than necessary.
Research and Market Feedback
The traditional career process is as follows:
– Sales Exec to Sales Manager to Dealer Principal.
– Admin Clerk to Bookkeeper to Accountant to Financial Manager to Dealer Principal.
– Apprentice to Technician to Service Advisor to Service Manager to Dealer Principal.
In all three cases above, there is little to no financial/data analysis training and minimal formal post-school qualifications.
The need for groups to employ and develop previously disadvantaged (EE) candidates with little to no experience into management roles.
The Retail Motor Industry is not an Industry of choice to school leavers and University/College graduates.
The right fit for a Dealer Principal or Financial Manager for a dealership is essential, and the appointment often has to comply with a company’s Employment Equity criteria.
In all three cases above, there is little to no financial/data analysis training and minimal formal post-school qualifications.
The need for groups to employ and develop previously disadvantaged (EE) candidates with little to no experience into management roles.
The Retail Motor Industry is not an Industry of choice to school leavers and University/College graduates.
The right fit for a Dealer Principal or Financial Manager for a dealership is essential, and the appointment often has to comply with a company’s Employment Equity criteria.
- Good at managing staff and dealing with customers BUT not good at understanding the potential of the business based on what the numbers show.
- Do not know how inputs effect output and which inputs effect which outputs.
- Lack of understanding of KPIs and what KPIs are relevant:
- How they are calculated.
- Why they are calculated.
- What they tell us.
- How to react effectively and timelessly when KPI’s are not at levels they should be.
- Only produce accounting numbers.
- Stay away from operations.
- Unable to identify key numbers.
- No ability to change/discuss DP’s and departmental manager’s strategies based on what the KPIs are saying.
- Don’t know how to develop and implement controls and processes.
- Inability to align inputs with outputs.
- Inability to align performance incentives of staff with company and OEM performance criteria and incentives.
- Same as DP’s but at slightly lower level.
- Preparation for DP role inadequate.
- They are thrown in and they tend to focus on what they know – sales or service operations.
The Challenge
We collect large amounts of data on a daily, monthly or annual basis BUT is this data all RELEVANT?
Do we know how to determine what data is RELEVANT?
How do we collect and/or calculate RELEVANT data?
Once we have the RELEVANT data, do we know what it is telling us about our business?
Do we know how to improve our businesses using the insights that the data has given us?
Do we know how to determine what data is RELEVANT?
How do we collect and/or calculate RELEVANT data?
Once we have the RELEVANT data, do we know what it is telling us about our business?
Do we know how to improve our businesses using the insights that the data has given us?
The solution
Determine whether the data currently being collected/calculated is Valid, Accurate and most importantly, RELEVANT.
Educate and empower management to understand and interpret data correctly.
Once understood and interpreted, management should use the RELEVANT data to make the critical decisions in their businesses.
What AMD Offers
Assessment, Training, One-on-One Mentoring Programmes and MORE
Assessment
- We spend time in your dealerships and determine the level of understanding amongst the management with regards to financial/statistical data analysis.
- Provide a detailed report per dealership on each manager.
- Approximately three days per dealership.
Training
- Group individual managers into similar knowledge/skill levels – 8-10 per group.
- Each group will then receive:
- Basic Financial Literacy Training.
- Bespoke Training dependent on group level and in agreement with CEO, CFO and Franchise Executives.
- Approximately one day per session of 6-8 in a group.
Our Bespoke Training will include (but will not be limited to) items such as:
- How to read and understand Management Accounts.
- Identify what questions we want answers to.
- The outputs that are necessary to answer the above questions.
- The inputs needed to determine the outputs.
- The calculation of the outputs.
- Latest relevant KPIs.
- Determine what the KPIs are telling us about the business.
- Understanding what levers to pull to improve the KPIs and therefore the business.
- Key Processes and Controls:
- How to Identify
- How to Implement
- How to Manage
One-on-One Mentoring at Dealerships:
- Mentoring is the most important part of the programme.
- Work with client and trainee to determine what is important to manage their specific business and ensure the numbers are available to do this.
- Ongoing mentoring and joint analysis.
- At least two sessions per month with each manager individually.
- Two hour sessions per manager, over an eight month period.
Additional AMD Services
A similar process can be followed for:
– Current staff in current positions.
– Current staff identified for promotion.
– New staff just appointed.
Benchmarking
– Across dealerships and franchises within groups.
Interim Management
We take care of your business while you take the necessary time to ensure you find the ideal candidate for the vacant role.
An experienced ex Dealer Principal and ex Financial Manager will assume the role you require as if it was their own business and will work with you to ensure all business processes, controls and relationships are maintained throughout the period.
We will ensure a detailed and timeous handover to the new appointee.