Agency in action: a case study

Every aspect of the purpose-built grs logistics centre at Cold Meece has been planned with military precision, from the ‘flow’ of vehicles through the site to the development of bespoke technology and systems that help to automate the process, making it as quick and efficient as possible.
One major company benefiting from this market-leading combination of market-leading efficiency and expertise is de-fleeting some 300 vehicles every month through the site. With speed crucial in helping to drive as much value as possible from each vehicle and ultimately maximise returns, grs aims to have completed the entire process within just five working days – from the vehicles’ arrival on-site, through inspection and refurbishment to imaging and readiness for sale.
Following inspection, grs undertakes refurbishment on a fixed price basis, and also takes care of all the back-office work; this includes completing all the contractual and financial paperwork which ensures each vehicle can be sold.
“We prepare the vehicles for sale not only from a visual perspective but also from the contractual point of view,” explained Danny Hartshorne, grs Sales Director. “A lot of activity takes place behind the scenes, which takes all the hassle off the vendor’s plate. We work quickly but thoroughly on their behalf to ensure their vehicles are de-fleeted and made ready for sale as soon as possible.”
Yet the advantages of working with grs go further still: “We have an extremely efficient operation which couldn’t be achieved without our great team of people and also the substantial investment we have made in Cold Meece,” continues Danny. “We are also a relationship business, so we make a point of getting to know our customers communicating with them in the way that suits them best. Every aspect of our service is tailored to their precise needs.”
If you would be interesting in visiting the Cold Meece logistics centre for a guided tour to see the operation for yourself, please get in touch with Danny Hartshorne on 01743 281836.

David Grice: man on a mission

David Grice, Procurement Director at grs, is a man on a mission – to make life as easy as possible for retailers.

“Traditionally, many companies have considered buyers and sellers to be worlds apart – completely separate teams with little in common, which means they end up rarely speaking or even work in ‘silos’,” he says.
While that has never been the case at grs, David Grice, who is now responsible for overseeing both the company’s sellers and buyers, is ensuring they take a ‘one team’ approach to everything they do, ensuring they can add even more value to retailers’ businesses.
“This approach makes absolute sense, as our account managers are talking to retailers throughout the UK every single day, so they know what’s selling well and what the latest trends are at any given moment,” says David.
“As well as sharing this valuable market insight with other retailers to help them maximise their own businesses, it’s also essential that they share their knowledge with our buyers. This ensures that the stock they are buying is tailored to the needs of our retailers.”
According to David, the old-fashioned definitions of buyers and sellers are too rigid to be of much use in today’s rapidly changing market. “Our account managers – who in the past would have been defined as the ‘sales guys’ – are effectively working as buyers for our retailers.
“We’re keen to develop a partnership based on confidence and trust by taking the time to really understand retailers’ businesses, which enables us to offer advice based on their individual buying profile, while at the same time making suggestions additional stock which may be of interest.”
David Grice has also been overseeing a number of practical changes, such as making the regular stock lists more user-friendly; they are now easier to open and include an image of each vehicle.
But is this quiet revolution reaping rewards? “Only time will tell,” laughs David. “Our main focus is to share our market intelligence with our retail partners, to enable us to build further on all the things we already do well – we believe that’s what will make retailers’ lives easier and we will continue to work hard to achieve this every time we talk to them.”