Before becoming the leading automotive seller known as "Master Group Cooperation (Asia)" or MGC-Asia, the luxury cars importer included yachts. Dr.Sanhawut Thammachuanwiriya, the President, has to find the way to pass through the old-fashioned automotive business to be one of the leader in this automotive selling industry.

A crisis makes a man

From the Tom Yam Kung crisis, no one was brave enough to fight and be a leader of a luxury car distributor. Only Dr.Sanhawut saw this opportunity. “At that time, most players gave up. Many changes happened whether new-face importers and distributors. So, I decided to propose a new business plan which other business owners also did the same. However, we thought about how to win the business partner's heart and how to make them trust and see the same future with us.” Only winning this competition is only what we wanted so he proposed the final offer which is “I attached the appendix at the last page of this business plan showing that if we cancelled this distributor contract we will pay the compensation at 10 million Pound. This is why we gain their trust and become their official distributor until now”.

Win the business partner heart by your heart

Apart from building a trust with the global brand, being a good strategic partner is also important. Showing them that no matter how difficult it is, you are willing to stand by them. “Building trust is to understand business and partners and learn their culture. After gaining trust, everything will be easier. However, without trust, anything is difficult. There was a time that we had to import a large lot of cars and we knew that it would be very tough. However, we trusted in our partner and believed in our relationship, so we were ready to lose. From that moment, we won our partner heart and received the best return which is everything we have these days.”

MGC-Asia has over 2,000 employees and 9 luxury car brands including rental car group, Used-car insurance. Developing employee’s competency and creating a career path is the main strategy of this company. Dr.Sanhawut said that “Every employee wants to grow so we have the human development training program for every level. We have to inspire them to work more effectively including rewards and intensive programs. Moreover, recognition programs are also set for a sustainable growing business with every employee. Not only hard and good working skills are needed, but also adjustability because there are many generations within the organization. Employers must understand the nature of their employees. The more you understand, the more they give trust.”

No matter what segment the customers are, they must be served by the best. The brand owner should know each customer segment wants and build the customer centric experience. “Every MGC-Asia customer, from a general to luxury group, must be served with the Customer Centric theory which means customer wants and benefits comes first. Our customer capabilities are various from 4-5 hundred thousand Baht to 60 million Baht. Customer service will be personalized by each customer level. For example, the luxury group tends to pay by cash, then we have to create the exclusive one on one activity while premium car customers like the convenient and privileged services and the general customers love promotion and worthy price.” Building trust with business partners, employees, and customers will make the brand sustainable. This is the strategy of MGC-Asia to win another competitor and be the number one in everyone’s heart.

Reference: The Beyond Experience seminar by Prachachart Newspaper & SCB