Sarah Stowe:
Hi Steve, it’s great to have you with us this afternoon and I’m really interested to hear about Jax as it is now. It’s had quite an interesting history. It’s been a brand that’s been around since mid-century, mid-20th century. But three years ago, Jax came out with a new brand and a new look. Can you just tell us about that and why the need for a rebrand?

Steve Grossrieder:
Yeah sure Sarah look firstly, you know, thank you for having me and it’s a pleasure to be here Jax almost four years ago now embarked on a corporate strategy where the the whole decision to rebrand Jax was driven by the need to reflect our customer centric values and to align our brand with our new operating model jacks, tyres and vehicle servicing. As we evolved and expanded our offerings, we recognised the need to ensure that our brand identified accurately and represented our focus on providing exceptional customer service and quality products. And as the evolution of Jax, the corporate strategy come to fruition, the customer experience was the center of everything that we did.

Sarah Stowe:
You mentioned there that it was not just tyres, that it’s the vehicle aspect as well, because the brand merged, I think, quite a few years ago with Quick Fit. And so has it been, for most of that period of time, just perceived by the customer as a tyre business? And if so, what proportion of the business actually was focused on that element and how new is the vehicle

Steve:
Yeah, so look, probably close to four and a half years ago, Hankook Tires acquired Jax’s Tyres, and that merger had already taken place. And coming into the organisation, I looked… .. at the business and saw that there was this incredible sense of people and the franchisees were very, very passionate about the tyre industry. But on reflection and talking to franchisees, almost 30 to 40 per cent of their work was mechanical work and it wasn’t recognised. Then talking to the customers, most customers would say, I didn’t realise Jax did vehicle servicing, we didn’t do mechanical. So it was interesting, it was the best kept secret. that there was an opportunity to realign the operating model and really enhance what was already considered a good customer experience by the industry is just to take it to that next level.

Sarah Stowe:
So I think last year, I think it was last year, you were awarded a best CX transformation for retail and also the CX leader of the year, which was fantastic. So belated congratulations for that. Can you tell us a little bit about the role that the customer played in reshaping the business?

Steve
So look, it was very, very clear for us as a premium retailer. Our actually new corporate strategy was a customer experience, premium-led, retail strategy. So we always knew that the customer had to be at the centre of everything we did. So over coming into the organisation, before we even started any sort of transformation, we really had a look at our customer journey and we completely re-looked the customer journey finish and we used that customer journey map once completed as being the change anchor for the entire corporate strategy. We took everyone within the franchise network on the customer journey. introduction, we took all our employees through it and what we found is the customer became the central point of everything we did. So everything we did on the strategy after that, we’re just building blocks and which clearly helped us align our operating model, our consumer proposition and ultimately helped us realign the brand.

Sarah Stowe:
So how important is customer experience as a portion of what you’re doing? Can you give it a percentage in terms of its relevance to the business?

Steve:
So one of the most important things that once we completed the customer journey map, we linked NPS and CSTAT scores to higher profitability within the franchise network. So all of a sudden, once the ROI linkage had been created between great net promoter scores and CSTAT measures, the penny dropped with the franchise network.

And all of a sudden we went on this transformational change and Covid was right through that as well, but at the centre of everything we did, our retail agility became reliant on good customer inputs both at the beginning of the journey at the end of the journey and also in real time in the journey so we can intervene and make a difference. So I don’t know if I could give it a percentage but our DNA now is customer experience and we differentiate on customer experience.

So every day we endeavour to create a better experience today than we did yesterday and start to put the you know, the, the plans in place to create a better experience tomorrow. As premium retail, we have to differentiate on customer experience otherwise, we’re really differentiating on price. For us, our growth agenda is dictated by how much we can underwrite the customer experience. We will only grow as quick as we can make sure that we’re delivering this high level of customer experience. It’s how we operate now moving forward. I don’t know but it’s pretty important.

Sarah Stowe:
Well, it certainly seems to have had an impact on revenue because your growth was strong and you hit an all-time record of 22 per cent revenue growth last year. So is there anything else that counts as a key factor in that or can you pin that all down to the customer experience?

Steve:
So, no, it’s aligning on the customer journey and the customer experience, and then making sure that your operational model can deliver that seamless customer experience, and you can leverage the investment in customer experience. So, as I indicated, we heavily invested in the customer experience to start with, and then we found ourselves having to align our operational model to make sure that we could deliver that seamless experience. is to create some simple focus areas for our business. And we call it our SOS strategy.

So what that stands for is service excellence plus operational efficiency equals sales performance. And then what we did is we linked the ROI linkage behind that so they saw that service excellence with our operational efficiency won’t give you the sales performance, but you link the two together and you’ll get the sales performance. but it was simple for the franchisees and their teams to actually comprehend that piece and the ROI linkage behind that really helped us to drive the change.

Now we are in a situation where we make a change in the operation, people are asking us in the network, have you considered the customer journey, have you considered this, it’s fundamentally fantastic for us. So we have to make sure that we’ve got this overzealous change management program across the organisation because they’re very, very customer focused because they can see that not only is it their customer base and the loyalty of the customer, it’s also their revenue model.

Sarah Stowe:
So it’s been quite, it sounds as if it’s been quite a kind of a mind shift across the network and has that been key to you engaging the franchisees and engaging employees more? Because that’s something that you’ve kind of talked about a little bit. Is there other strategies that you’ve used to sort of pull everyone together and get them thinking the same way?

Steve:
Yes, no, no, look, look, it’s key to just about everything we do. Every new franchisee that comes into the network, they go through an intensive induction program where we not only train them on the importance of customer, we also train them on how to leverage that customer experience to make sure that you’re taking advantage of the investment that we’re giving.

So for example, every customer that comes into the Jax ecosystem gets a complementary inspection. almost 70 per cent of the vehicle inspections come up with a clean bill of health. The other 30 per cent of the inspections will have some sort of work that is required to be done and we put it into some sort of, you know, a scheduled program by identifying what work may need to be done immediately, what work may need to be done at the next service interval and what, you know, um… work may need to be done in 12 months time or the next service.

And what we find is providing that transparency and that trust with our customer, they actually just ask us to book the vehicle in for work pretty much straight away. And that inspection process is all about our consumer promise, about peace of mind driving.

So as I said, 70 per cent of the inspection reports come up that your car’s great and that’s a great customer. value to know that your vehicle is great and you’re going to probably not require anything for your next service interval but where we do find something it gives them that peace of mind and transparency and then we can also look at what’s immediate that needs to be done now and what can be scheduled in down the track depending on how your budget is suited.

Sarah Stowe:
One of the really exciting things that you’re doing is around sustainability. So you’ve got quite a few elements, I think, to your Future Fit program. Can you just tell us a little bit about how you introduced that and what the goals are and how you’re going about it?

Steve:
Yeah, so look, in our corporate strategy we have four major goals. First, it’s all about… franchise fit, retail agility, growth, and then the first one is future fit. And what future fit is, is all about is making sure that Jax is in a position, you know, for the foreseeable future, it’s adapting to not only evolutions in the automotive market, but also evolving to our consumer evolution.

We found during Covid, we put some immediate changes in based on what the customer’s needs were, that quicker than the competition. An example would be Jax was the first automotive repairer to come to the market with zero contact around the about servicing the vehicle. Now a lot of our competitors followed two weeks later but the fact that we could actually do that so quickly meant that we were really listening to what the customers needs were at that time. Then also looking at the automotive evolution, you put the two together.

So one of the future FIT initiatives that we’re working on right now, and we’re rolling out, is a joint venture between RACV and EVR, where we’re providing over the course of the remainder of 2023, 70 per cent of our franchise network will be fitted out with solar panels.

And also the franchisee will receive charger and this is because there’s just the growing demand of electric vehicles and we see our consumers coming in with those needs right now. So we’re trying to get ahead of the curve to make sure that Jax is seen as an organisation that evolves with the automotive technology, but also our customers are telling us what they want to see in terms of charging expectations when the vehicles come into our ecosystem. So very, very exciting.

We’re probably about 25 per cent of the rollout and very, very positive with the effects already. So most franchisees’ electricity bills reduced by nearly 75 percent whilst you know the the an electric vehicle can be charged fully you know from the sun. So it’s a it’s a it’s a nice sustainable piece but it makes good commercial sense for the franchisees and when you can bring the two of those together it’s a very very powerful message and that’s why we call it future fit so it’s not just about being sustainable it’s about making commercial decisions at the same time you bring the two together and we And our customers play a big part in that as well with our focus groups, with customers about where they may see Jax in the future and what are the things that they expect from their interactions with Jax.

Sarah Stowe:
Can you give us any insights into those? I mean, are they areas that you would expect to go into? Are there wild and crazy ideas out there?

Steve:
Well, look, I can give a simple example. So as we rolled out the FutureFit initiative for the solar panels and the EV charges, in conversations with customers and also our franchisees, we would have the electric vehicle charging station in a car spot. So you could park in the car spot and charge it. However, most of the cars… when they’re parked in the car spot or only they’re there either prior to them being worked on or after they’re being worked on while the customer comes back into Jax and picks them up or they’re waiting. Working with customers, they indicated to us that their expectation wasn’t that the vehicle would be fully charged on return, they would be actually happy if there was a percentage of charge, like 10 to 15 per cent more charge when it was picked up then one was delivered.

So the franchise said, why don’t we actually install the electric vehicle charges on the hoist? So when the vehicle comes in to be repaired, the vehicle can be worked on while it’s being charged at the same time, making it more operational efficient, customer-centric. And then as we expand the electric vehicle market, so as the market grows, we can then start putting more charges onto our hoists in the workshop, car spaces. So whilst sitting back at head office, this is invaluable information both from customers and franchisees on how we can make a more operational efficient but more importantly streamline the customer experience for the customer when they come into our environment. So this is just one of many things and it’s really empowering how the customer-centric behaviour in head office would have not thought to bring all those together. So you know I’m learning from my people all the time Sarah, it’s really good.

Sarah Stowe:
So what’s the growth strategy for the business?

Steve:
Well, we’re just about to move into our next evolution of our five-year corporate strategy, which I’m really excited about. The franchisees are very excited about because we’ve made a lot of progress in the last four years. So we’ve got our national conference this year in November, and we’re taking our franchisees to SEMA in North America for one of the largest automotive conferences, and we’re going to unveil our new corporate strategy. a minimum of six stores per year over the next five years to take our network up to 120 stores and we’ll also be expanding our mobile network quite significantly especially with our vehicle servicing product to make sure that our customers have got options so they can either bring it into the store or they can have it serviced at their work or at their home.

So many different options available for our customers. So 120 stores and significantly expanding our mobile network. But again, it’ll all be underwritten by how we can guarantee the same level of customer experiences as we grow. So we’ll only grow as quick as we can underwrite that customer experience.

Sarah Stowe:
Are there any particular obstacles or challenges that you feel lie ahead?

Steve:
Yeah, look, there is. And probably the most significant one is just focusing on getting the required resourcing as the network grows. We actively have got many different programs where we bring resources into our network through bringing apprentices on, bringing technicians in from overseas, and also we have a careers option that we run with schools. As you can imagine, growing six to seven stores plus a mobile network plus servicing a network that’s already in a situation of under-resourced personnel right now at the moment, it will be a challenge for us.

Before Covid, the automotive market was already heavily restricted in terms of resources. The Covid piece has just made that even worse and the automotive market is growing. New car sales are up, used car sales are also up, people are holding onto their vehicles longer. So there is plenty of opportunities in the automotive market. So we need to encourage more people to enter that market. And a lot of the industries are working together quite well through the AAAA in trying encourage more people to come into the industry.

And look, a lot of my retail competitors, we work collaborative together to try and bring more people into the industry. So that will be a challenge for us, but at this stage we’re on track. So it will be something that we need to work on over the next couple of years.

Sarah Stowe:
But it’s exciting that it’s an area with potential. And it’s good to have those kind of challenges to have to overcome if you know the potential is there. In talking about growing business and bringing more people into business, do you think business is instinctive? Or do you think it’s a mindset that you can develop with the right sort of nurturing and education?

Steve:
Look, it’s a really good question, Sarah. I’ve seen successful examples of both. So I think if the participant’s willing to learn and be hungry, because that’s how I became, you know… I don’t know if I was born with that mindset. I absolutely acquired it over time with great mentors and plenty of opportunities that were given to me. But I’ve also seen people that have just been gifted and just excelled in it from day one. So to answer your question, I think it could be either.

Sarah Stowe:
And in terms of leadership, which is different obviously to kind of business, what does that look like to you? How would you define it?

Steve:
Well, look, leadership for me is very much situational. And I think that we operate in an incredibly fast market, an incredibly evolving world. And I think that leadership needs to be situational depending on what you’re confronted with and what are your people’s needs at any given time. But at the core of that, I think authenticity and just general concern for the wellbeing of people is at the centre for me. And then empowerment. purpose and making sure that I can link that purpose to our vision so everyone feels that they’re adding value and leadership for me is just always been about making sure that everyone’s actually aligned and moving in the same direction.

Sarah Stowe:
So would you say that kind of ethos that you’ve just expressed, has that been a driving force for you? Or has there been something else that you’ve looked to achieve in business? What’s been their ambition?

Steve:
No, no, it’s probably been, this is the way I’ve operated in most of my career. If you’re looking for change, if you’re looking for growth, if you’re looking for success, and you don’t think people are at the core of it, you probably need to rethink your strategy. Ha ha ha.

Sarah Stowe:
Now you start, you mentioned that you felt that you’d learned about business, you know, through mentors and early on. And I wondered how you started out in your career because I’ve seen, I think it’s on LinkedIn that you have a craftsman certificate of proficiency as a motor and plant mechanic. Is that, was that your starting point?

Steve:
Yeah, no look, I always wanted to be a mechanic and straight out of school became a mechanic and loved what I did and during probably the first or second year as a tradesman, I was offered an opportunity to go into management that I couldn’t refuse, and I’ve never looked back, and then just grew through management and post-graduate studies and so forth, and again, had some fantastic mentors along the way, and I just had this thirst to keep growing, and here I am.

Sarah Stowe:
And do you have other any influences outside of business that you feel might have shaped your life?

Steve:
Yeah, look, I do. I think that there is a long list, there is no doubt. I think that I’ve learned from so many people over the years different things by just listening and observing. But look, I suppose really early in my childhood, my father died in an accident, and my mother became my role model, and she had this view that I could do anything that I focused on, and she just supported me 100 per cent. A little bit biased, of course, you know what I mean? But absolutely just kept encouraging me to do whatever I wanted to focus on and she always made sure that whatever you focus on make sure that you outwork everyone so you know very very powerful role model so I give her full credit.

Sarah Stowe:
And what piece of advice would you give to someone starting out in their career, now that you’re where you are and you’ve had a few years under your belt to see how the world works and how business works?

Steve:
Yeah, look, it’s interesting. I don’t suppose I’ve ever been asked this question, but look, what I would… you know, a give to someone is make sure that you enjoy what you do and you have purpose. If you have purpose, and then you can clearly articulate what you need to do or the roadmap, and then the last piece of advice is just outwork everyone. And no matter what happens, you just stay true to your purpose, stay true to your vision and your roadmap. And if you outwork everyone, you’ll eventually come to the top. whatever you focus on you’ll achieve and just make sure that you’re doing it with purpose.

Sarah Stowe:
Okay, that is great advice. Thank you so much, Steve. It’s been great to have a chat today. Thank you.

Steve:
Yeah, thank you, Sarah.