5 Star Reputation – Digital Experts for Independent Dealers

Fresh Motors’ Jacob Freshwater Wins the Rising Star Award At The Auto Trader Retailer Awards 2018

Jacob Freshwater has just won the Rising Star Award for retailers stocking fewer than 200 cars at the Auto Trader Retailer Awards 2018.

According to Auto Trader, the Rising Star Award celebrates the future legends of the industry. Freshwater has been recognised as someone who is helping to shape and inspire automotive retail with his innovative attitude.

Click Dealer’s own Regional Sales Manager, James Angelsea paid him a visit to congratulate him and find out his thoughts on his business and the industry.

Jacob Freshwater Award

James: “Firstly, Jacob, congratulations on the award! Was it a good night?”

Jacob: “Yeah, a very good night, thoroughly enjoyed it! I always like these award events because you can rub shoulders against big dealers, small dealers and just take little nuggets away that you pick up bits of practice from and just from that perspective, it was a good night and obviously, winning the award brought a whole other level to it.”

James: “So, what was it, do you think, that made you stand out from your competitors?”

Jacob I think it’s probably our age, to start with the fact that we’re young.”

James: “Yeah, you are young. How old are you?”

Jacob: “23 and Isaac’s 20. I think it’s probably just our young focus to the whole thing, we’ve not had any prerequisite in the motor industry, so everything we do is fresh and brand-new.”

James: “As the name suggests.”

Jacob: “As the name suggests, exactly. So, we’re just trying to add a modern approach to everything we do and by doing that, I think it sort of allows us to channel our competitors and we’re not stuck in any way. We’re completely brand-new there.

“We’re sort of about four years old now, and that whole ethos has just kind of continued. We try and take in as much technology and data as we can, pricing and you know, the way we run every aspect really: the buying to the sale, to the after sale. I think all those tiny little gains adds up to performance and I think that’s how we look at it – a little gain becomes a big thing over time.”

James: “Yeah, and that’s a really good mentality to have! How did Fresh Motors start? You say that you’re 23 and you’ve been going for 4 years?”

Jacob: “Yeah. So, I started in my first year of Uni. In fact, my Dad and his brother came around my dorm room, they’d been to an auction and bought a car, and I thought ‘wow.’ I didn’t realise it was that easy, so I went to buy one, just for some wheels to get home at the weekends to see my family. I went to auction and bought one and then realised that I had got it cheap, so I sold it and realised then that there was a market and from there onwards, just bought and sold cars from Uni. Started with one thousand pounds, and the first car was a Renault Clio – that was a sole trading period of just testing it out.”

James: “Is this whilst you were studying as well?”

Jacob: “Whilst I was still studying accounting and finance, and then for the third year of Uni I was left with, ‘do I pursue accounting or do I set something up myself?’ And I thought ‘Well, if I don’t do it now and if I head into the corporate world, then it’s going to be really hard to do’. So, literally the day after I graduated, I signed a small unit premises, this limited company started and thereafter, just kept rolling with the whole thing and we’re still here now.”

James: “That’s a great story! So, how do you think Click Dealer has played a part in that journey then?”

Jacob: “Hugely! I mean Click Dealer, for a start, has made us so much more efficient. I remember when I used to do my stock work out of an A5 book with a ruler! Also, from a marginal perspective, we can see standing values very quickly and the feeds sending things like advertisements to Auto Trader so fast.

“To me, time is everything when you’re limited on staff, we know, we’ve got to run as efficiently as we can. And now with the sales enquiry side of things as well, I just think that Click Dealer has been a hugely integral part. For the value versus the cost, it’s amazing what Click Dealer has definitely done for this business.”

James: “Going back to the awards, do you have plans to use that as a platform to propel you to even greater heights?”

Jacob: “I mean, we try and promote it everywhere we can, all over social media, on our website and on adverts, in the showroom; it’s certainly a nice thing to start from. Hopefully, going forward we can use that to help customers understand we’re different, and instill trust.

James: “So the first one was the Car Dealer Magazine Awards: Rising Star Award. You’ve used that already to help propel the business and it’s had a good effect hasn’t it?

Jacob: “The photo with Mike Brewer, everyone in the motor industry knows who Mike Brewer is, it is a good conversation starter and it’s shows that we’ve hit a certain bar to hopefully set us apart from the rest. It’s hugely helped us stand out.”

James: “Anything that makes you stand out in this industry is obviously a great help.

“So, coming on to the technology side of things, where do you see the future of technology going for dealerships? I know you’ve said you do quite a lot of your business online, do you think that’s where it’s going?”

Jacob: “Yeah, for me, when I set up, obviously I was set up in this small unit I had such limited resources, I was forced into an online model, no forecourt, and I quickly realised that you don’t need a forecourt. It’s convenient and in the industry maybe that’s how it was five years ago, but now I think a lot of people are setting up appointment only style, unit-based showroom premises just harnessing the fact that every consumer searches online before they even walk in the door.

“Customers now do all their decision making beforehand and I think the future will be that people won’t even leave the house. It’ll be: pick the phone up, do the decision making online and car dealers will deliver to order. I think it’s still a way from that, but I think that’s the way it’s going”

James: Looking to the future again, where will Fresh be in the next 5 or 10 years?

Jacob: “We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing, pursuing growth. We’ve just hired our first employee which is a big milestone for me and Issac anyway. We’re going to continue with cars and vans, I don’t think we’re going to be carrying on with scooters anymore. For us, the aim is just to keep growing.

“Hopefully in a couple of years’ time, we’ll outgrow this place and buy a premises and really make a work environment that works for us. I would definitely like to pursue more of a unique online model.”

To find out how Click Dealer can help your dealership’s performance, get in touch today by emailing us at marketing@clickdealer.co.uk, calling us on 01782 478 220 or messaging us via our contact page!



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