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JACK Rhodes from John Hughes Hyundai in Perth has won the service adviser category of the South Korean car manufacturer’s 2018 Global Customer Experience Championship held this month in Seoul.

This was the fourth staging of the prestigious international biennial event for service advisers – restructured this year to include sales representatives for the first time – and brought together 136 dealership sales and service staff from 60 countries.

Mr Rhodes was crowned Hyundai’s top global service adviser and presented with a $US5000 ($A6870) cheque after emerging as the standout performer in the rigorous competition, which involves two written exams, a video response test and two roleplay exercises involving “challenging scenarios” with customers.

Team Australia: (L-R) Jack Rhodes, Brad Williams, Theo Stitt and Taylor Miles at the 2018 Global Customer Experience Championship in South Korea.

Also representing Australia in the service adviser category was Brad Williams from Warrnambool Hyundai in western Victoria, while the sales consultants were both from Sydney – Theo Stitt from Paul Wakeling Hyundai in Campbelltown and Taylor Miles from Sinclair Hyundai in Penrith.

Mr Miles won a special ‘mindset and attitude’ award in the sales representative class.

The four Australian contestants were chosen to represent Hyundai Motor Co Australia (HMCA) in the global final after a series of regional competitions held earlier in the year.

Training and support was provided by HMCA’s national product training manager Garry Jones, who accompanied the Aussie contestants to Korea. The event was staged at Hyundai’s Motorstudio in Goyang.

Mr Rhodes’ win follows the gold medal won last year by Wollongong City Hyundai master technician Lawson Puho in the 12th Hyundai World Skill Olympics, which also runs on a biennial basis.

At the previous global service adviser championships held in 2016, Sinclair Hyundai’s Andrew Burnett won a gold medal in the general roleplay section while Stephanie Wynne from Scenic Hyundai in Beaudesert, Queensland, received a Top 10 Excellent Skills Award.

HMCA says the strong performances of the Australian representatives is a “great reflection” on its training operations.

As GoAuto has reported, the Australian subsidiary of the South Korean auto giant takes global competitions such as these seriously in an effort to win international recognition, motivate and reward dealership staff and to ensure its dealer network training is up to date with the latest practices and technology.

By Terry Martin

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