What a fantastic day and evening at the Oxford Belfry Hotel!

The second Service Dealer Conference & Awards took place yesterday to a packed house of dealers from across the country, from businesses large and small. The atmosphere was one of collaboration and shared experiences.

The tone for the day was set by the wonderful Keynote speech delivered by maverick high-street retailer John Timpson. His philosophy of recruiting his staff based on personality rather than pre-learned skills, and then giving them the agency to fulfil their job the way they see best was refreshing and inspirational.

Even though he was taking about shoe repairing and key cutting, delegates could easily draw parallels to their own, independent, service-focused, businesses. His 'upside management' idea of making sure that the guys facing the customers are the most important in the company, with management there to support them, was fascinating to hear.

He said they only had two rules in his company. 1 - Look the part. And 2 - Put the money in the till! "Beyond that, " said John, "I say to my staff, do whatever you feel you need to, in order to get the job done."

He also had an incredible policy of allowing any of his staff to spend up to £500, without consulting management, to settle any customer dispute. "You can't give great customer service by simply following a set of rules," said John. This notion seemed to capture the imagination of many of the delegates.

The bottom line with John's business is that his independent way of doing things has allowed his company to thrive, through providing customers with a level of satisfaction which sees them returning time after time.

It was something which the dealers in the room could relate to and draw inspiration from. Which was repeated through the whole day of the conference.

Delegates agreed the tweaks to the format improved on last year's good start to this new era of Service Dealer Conferences. The team at The Ad Plain, led by Julie, had put together a day which flowed seamlessly and offered plenty of high-quality content for everyone to absorb. I think everyone will have gone away with a valuable new idea or three, which they will be able to put into practical use at their own dealership.

Also many congratulations to our Dealer of the Year and individual prize winners at the glitzy Awards ceremony last night. You can read more about them here. And you can read a summary of the day's sessions here, with a more detailed report appearing in the next issue of Service Dealer magazine. Many thanks also to all our fantastic sponsors.

As ever with gatherings such as this, it was the networking and discussions with colleges and friends old and new, during dinner and late into the night, which made this year's Service Dealer Conference such a vital and established part of the industry's calendar. I do hope everyone who attended enjoyed the day as much as the Service Dealer team did. We look forward to seeing you all again next year - hopefully alongside even more of our readers and industry friends.