First up, a huge congratulations to publishers of Service Dealer, TAP, who following a long and rigorous process have this week become B Corp certified.

This is a huge achievement and one that relatively few companies in the UK have reached. Duncan, Emma, Liz and their team feel rightly proud of this significant moment and hope that other companies in our sector will also look to make sustainability a key component of their business's make-up. You can read some more about what the certification means, as well as check out some quite spectacular A.I avatars of Duncan and the team, here.

In the meantime, I'm sure everyone reading this today will want to join me in saying, superbly well done guys!

Quality customer experiences

Elsewhere, you might have already read about an exciting new addition to November's Service Dealer Conference announced by the organising team.

Confirmed to be joining the line-up that already includes keynote speaker Daryl Fielding who will be discussing branding, is the first of the day's breakout sessions.

Always popular amongst our dealer delegates, these workshop presentations take place in smaller groups, allowing both the speaker to convey their expertise, but also crucially, facilitate an environment where the dealers in the room can participate, feed back and share their own knowledge and experiences.

Today's announcement is Adrian Swinscoe who is an author, speaker and podcaster, specialising in the subject of customer experience. On his website, Adrian describes his ethos, saying, "My driving passion is helping create, develop and grow businesses that take care of their customers in the best way possible and create the great teams that are required to do that."

I must say, I think this a great booking for our event dedicated to offering help and advice to the dealer network. Now more than ever, it seems vital that independent retailers must set themselves apart from the competition.

Everyone reading this today will be fully aware that there are still some - mostly online - sellers out there who solely rely upon rock-bottom, crazy price discounting in order to grab a customer's attention. Surely one of the most effective weapons that an independent dealer can wield to compete with these bandits, is to offer a truly memorable customer experience to those who enter their store or visit their website?

For our dealer readers, focussing on customer satisfaction isn't some token, flash-in-the-pan gesture, it's an integral component of their business's DNA.

There will be so much that Adrian will be able to touch upon in his session that our readers will be able to directly relate to. I can't presume to know what exactly he'll cover come November, but when we think about what a quality customer experience in our sector entails, several notions spring to mind. 

Ideas such as building trust and credibility, offering expert guidance, giving top-notch post-purchase support, listening to feedback and adopting a policy of continual improvement are all areas that improve a customer's experience.

If a customer leaves your dealership satisfied, this is of course crucial for a bunch of reasons. Firstly it gives your dealership that differentiation in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Beyond this benefits such as repeat business, enthusiastic word of mouth testimonials and gaining a customer for life can all be argued to stem from an enhanced encounter with your company.

But like I say, I'm no expert - and indeed Adrian says he takes a radical approach to customer experience. One of the books he's written is called Punk CX (where CX means 'customer experience'). He likens traditional thinking around the subject to those prog rock dinosaurs of the 1970s, who needed shaking up by something new, daring and different like the punk rock movement that exploded late in that decade. So his take on the subject is likely to offer innovative, fresh thinking that should hopefully generate some genuinely new inspiration amongst our dealer delegates.

There are of course more announcements to come for the Conference, with further breakout sessions to be confirmed soon. So keep an eye on this Update, the magazine and our social channels to stay on top of what's in store for November.