Launch of new BMW and Stunning New Premises at Vines of Guildford

I went along with my friend Karen, to the Vines BMW showroom in Guildford on Friday night (7th September).

The event was about showing off, (what turned out to be) the stunning new premises and the launch of their latest model!

I went along because I love cars, particularly German ones, and again it is always a good opportunity to meet new people ...and as it turned out, I met quite a few!!

We spent the evening looking at the cars on display and talking to lots of people.

The BMW staff were all helping out on the night, and those I spoke with were very friendly and attentive serving drinks and canapes.

I got speaking to one of them, a lady called Cathy Hartley, and I was very impressed by what she had to say! She was talking about how everyone working there was really friendly and that some of the staff had been there for years - which is surely a testament to the management team at Vines!!

I can only speak from experience myself, but this seems to be something that the majority of companies would love to achieve!

I spoke with Mark Hollands (the Dealer Principle, and above in the photo with Karen), about what Cathy had said, and he reinforced the team spirit that existed. (Interestingly, he also had a major say in the way the new showroom was designed - clearly a man of taste too!)

I remember some years back someone told me a story about a CEO in charge of a large corporate and when asked who he looked after most - his shareholders or his clients, he replied 'Niether. I look after my staff. If I look after my staff they will look after my clients, and if my clients are looked after, they will make sure my shareholders are happy'. This has always stuck with me (I am afraid I cannot attribute this, as I didn't catch the name of the CEO), a philosophy Mark seems to believe too.

For the ultimate customer buying experience, and follow up customer care, I think the team at Vines in Guildford would be hard to beat!

After that Karen and I wandered around the show room, identified the car I would like at some point in the future (that's me and Karen sitting in it!)before hearing Mark announce the prize draw. As we became very quiet and waited for him to make the announcement - I was stunned to find out it was me!!! How fab was that?!

I won 2 days in Germany at the Nurburgring driving the thrilling new BMW M3 Coupe (much to the envy of a number of my friends)!!

I was still in a state of shock when I spoke with Sara Moule (who drives the car I am after)and Ashley Andrew (Regional Sales & Marketing Manager & National Sales Manager respectively), as they told me what to expect.!

A great evening methinks!!

Bank Holiday Weekend in the sun!

Hello again!

I regularly update my blog with some of the things that Wendy and I get up to and this weekend we have had a fabulous time!

Wendy, for those of you who do not know, is a Reiki Master, and one of the groups she belongs to decided that they would have a stall at the Thai Festival Weekend, which was being held in the Secretts Garden centre in Milford, Surrey, and was organised by The Mudita Trust Charity, raising finance to help educate girls from some of the poorest areas. It also coincided with the 80th birthday of King Bhumibol, the King of Thailand, so yellow was a bit of a theme!

I have to be honest, on the first day, when we arrived, neither Wendy or I held out much hope of it being very busy - and how wrong we were!! It was packed solid all weekend! Apparently they expected over 50,000 visitors - that's how wrong!

Everyone was in really good spirits and very friendly. There were numerous stalls, a very large number selling Thai food (which just made our mouths water, although niether of us indulged, as result of a bit of a health drive at the moment!). There was a stage, where different Thai dancing, martial arts etc were performed and I have to say the costumes were dazzling!

The stand we were on, was organised by Jill Roberton and Diane Betts, who gathered together a group of therapists offering neck and shoulder massage, reiki, infinite balance and hand reflexogy.

We both worked on the Saturday morning and the Monday afternoon, and it was only when we got home we realised how tired we were - and some of the girls (and lad!) had been there the whole weekend, they must have been exhausted! It is not so much that we were physically running around, but for anyone who has been on an exhibition stand - constantly talking and smiling with strangers,takes it out of you.

Still, Wendy and I know that things like this are a great way to network and get your business known to even more people, and as we were allowed to put out our brochures, it made it even more worthwhile. I know Wendy managed to hand her business card out to at least 2 people!

Well worth helping out and a great time was had by all!! And I would highly recommend watching out for the next one!