The Bangkok Training Of 1988 - A Turning Point For Ban Hoe Seng

Seated  (second from right) Matsuro Sato followed by Pauline Hsu and Datin Loh Cheng Yuen (daughter of Loh Boon Siew). Standing (1st from right) Ignatius Chew.

When Ignatius Chew went to Bangkok Thailand for training in 1988  it made an impact on him such that when he returned he was a totally changed person and a plan for Ban Hoe Seng.

At Bangkok he was trained by Matsuro Sato, the Asian Honda Motor Co Ltd President whom Ignatius described as a “Superman who performed miracles for the Thai automobile market”

According to Ignatius, Sato at that time thought of car salesmen as unprofessional cowboys unlike the top American companies that saw the customer as Number 1.

He also saw how the big business such as banks, hotels and airlines treated their staff and had adopted that concept for the car business”.

Ignatius spent 7 days walking around showrooms and learning from Sato. When he returned he immediately implemented the Thailand system.

Both Pauline and Ignatius actually changed Ban Hoe Seng in 1988. Besides implementing the management system he gave the showroom and service centre a facelift for maximum customer comfort and introduced customer service personnel.

For all his effort he achieved the first Dealer of the Year award in 1990.

 

(left photo) Ignatius Chew receiving the 1st Dealer of the Year award from Dato Robert Wong

Every other year after that, he achieved a string of other awards for Customer Service, Technician and Sales Advisor. 

In later years the system developed between the managements of Boon Siew Motors and Kah Motors which in turn was controlled by Honda’s management brought benefits to the entire group.

In 2009 he won the award of Dealer of the Year a second time.  

"Dealer of the Year Award" in the year 2009

Since 1988 when he took over till when he divested the business to Ban Hoe Seng (Auto) in 2017 Ignatius had grown the business more than tenfold.

He had learnt from a good Master and had faithfully been a good disciple and together with sound management practices had managed to grow the company.