Stephen tells us that Ogilvie’s main focus as a business has always been on providing industry-leading customer service. He says: “The needs of our customers changed almost overnight during the pandemic, and we continue to work with them to provide extended contracts and flexible mileages to accommodate how their vehicles are used going forward.
“Customer service for us also means innovation – as we have invested heavily in our Happy Drivers and MiNextEV apps, which provide a first line of 24/7 driver support. Our digital team has also developed a lead time tool to help our internal team offering to clients and negate the impact of the unprecedented vehicle lead times the industry is experiencing.”
With massive growth in the choice of models available and tempting BiK rates, it’s no surprise that Ogilvie Fleet are seeing a general growth in EV adoption, Stephen tells me. Plus, a rapid growth in salary sacrifice. He says: “This looks set to continue on an upward trend after the good news about low EV BIK rates being set now until 2028. We invested in our EV offering a number of years ago, and our teams are able to offer impartial, expert advice in an area of huge change to many businesses.”
Stephen is quick to clarify that the lockdowns over the last two years did give Ogilvie the chance to take another at their customer service procedures, but this is only one of the reasons for their excellent retention rate – but not the only reason. He says: “We were one of the few companies in our industry to almost maintain full operations completely during lockdowns and as we came out of that first one in 2020, we were able to rapidly return to normal operations as a result – and months ahead of most competitors.
“We also took bold steps to assist customers with the financial challenges at that time and in adding additional flexibility with their contract’s terms and mileages.
“There is no doubt that all helped improve customer service and fleet growth, but our absolute and total commitment to customer service has been the foundation on which we work for over 30 years and it is that solid bedrock that really contributes to our retention rate.”
Updates for Ogilvie’s award-winning Happy Drivers app, which was built on the back of feedback from customers are in the pipeline for next year and more, Stephen tells us. He says: “We also plan to continue our investment in the MiNextEV digital tool as the number of EV options continues to rise.
“We are looking to enhance MiFleet to provide even better data to fleet managers, alongside a driver version of MiFleet to create a more driver focused offering.”
Business Car has recognised Ogilvie’s customer service success, but when pushed we asked Stephen how the business stands out against their opposition. He says: “Our people. Without question, it is our people that make the difference. We have been awarded both a Best Companies 2-Star accreditation and received Investors in People Platinum status this year, recognising the support we offer for our teams. As without them and the work they do for us, for our clients and in devising new innovations, we would be nothing.”
We’ve already mentioned Ogilvie’s success at the Business Car Awards 2022, but we were keen to ask Stephen how he and the company were planning on keeping hold of it next year? He says: “Winning awards of this calibre is very hard. Keeping them is even harder!
“We will have to improve in all areas yet again, further innovate, further grow the fleet, and impress our clients even more.
“Only by delivering more to our clients can we tell the judges what more we have done and try to impress that we should keep the award. That’s our goal.”
