September 2019

I decided that I wanted to use my knowledge gained from Holly at head office to create my own page on the Swansway website. This would be a ‘Meet the team’ page, so that any customers could see our staff before walking into our showroom. I also felt that this was a nice touch as staff orientated social media posts seem to work really well online, so felt that this could to! I had started this project with Holly at head office but never got the chance to finish it. To start this, I decided to compile a table format with each member of staff's name, whether I had their image taken, how many years they'd been in the industry for and finally what car they'd purchase if they were a

Volkswagen customer. By doing this, it enabled me to set smaller goals in order to complete my full target.

Since completing my coding training with Amanda at Escalla, I now understand that the Swansway website is fully compatible as it works on a range of different browsers and platforms. I have noticed that on desktop, the 'Meet the Crewe VW team' page is layout differently than on mobile as the page is highly responsive to these factors. As you can see from the images below, the desktop version appears differently to that on the mobile, this is because the screen sizes are different. One thing that does remain however and is required in websites is that the order is consistent between both. For this webpage for example, I decided to place the members of staff in the managerial hierarchy - meaning Andy (Head of Business) and Ben (Brand Director) needs to be sat at the top of everybody. Even on the mobile version this still has the same consistency although the layout varied.

Seeing other apprentice's 'talky' walk through videos of their vehicle stock, I felt as though I could potentially begin doing my own as my new car video percentages were also looking rather poor. I spent a portion of the day looking at videos created by apprentices Imogen and Sophie and also those shot by Sales Execs of Swansway on the YouTube channel.

Because I did not feel comfortable speaking directly into the microphone, I decided to film the visuals for the video, separate to the audio. I used the gimble machine and the video settings on the iPhone to film just the visuals then recorded myself talking about the car in voice memos. I used the iMovie app to then edit both the visuals and the audio together ensuring that they both matched - when I was talking about the alloy wheels, it would show it. To add more to the video, I decided to attach the phone number of the dealership as for me, having to remember a phone number by audio only can sometimes become a nuisance therefore having this onscreen may aid the customer and influence them to call sooner. The number that I used (01270 864452) is a tracked number by a company called media hawk. They are able to an analyse call data and see percentage of customers calling used the particular number.

This is the YouTube link to one of the videos that I created:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4caRsjXVg0

Due to having annual leave on the previous Escalla Training week, I was really looking forward to going this week, however it was the week that I had been dreading the most. Coding. I've never ever done this subject, I remember at high school the IT bods talking about it and I remember it going completely over my head. I remember from my Escalla induction when Em went through all of the apprenticeship subjects and suddenly feeling panic as soon as she mentioned coding. Probably because I'd done Business Studies at A-Level so the other 2 topics felt familiar.

I went into the week feeling fairly optimistic - I wanted to go into this with an open mind to try my best to learn the content and pass the exam. Technology being technology, we had a slight issue throughout the week with the wifi and server connection which meant the week was a little disrupted. Amanda dealt with this incredibly, in such a way that she got everybody through the exam with a pass. I was completely gobsmacked when I received the email saying I'd done it.

 

Thanks Amanda, without you, I'd be still fretting about coding!

It was the week that we had all been waiting for.. The week that the charity event was going to be taking place. With last minute preparation still being carried out along the week, I could sense the nerves beginning to build throughout the whole group. We had been planning this event for a couple of months and it was all going to be over this week.

The day arrived and we set our area up in Crewe Audi. Our corner of the showroom was disguised in Macmillan green and a shed load of cake! 10am hit and we had to start pedalling if we were ever going to complete our 328 mile target. On the way, we had special guests that truly motivated us and helped us to complete the mileage and raise the money. Our first guest; 75-year-old Alan, is a resident at a local retirement home in Crewe. Alan had covered the famous Land's End to John O'Groats on his own static bike at the home so was invited to attend our event with CAT Radio to hop on the bike and cover some miles for us... and he did! an hour later, Alan had covered an impressive 5.5 miles!

CAT Radio also visited us and took some voice recordings for their radio show, the guys also took a turn on the bikes. Another push that the team needed was from Escalla, members of the Escalla family came down to Crewe Audi to show their support which was certainly needed. As well as some willing colleagues at Crewe Audi, we also had a 'Bikeoff' between two of the Swansway directors - John Smyth and Chris Chatfield, they too did their bit and pedalled for half an hour. Two members of staff from Total Fitness were the last to join our cycle as they'd kindly donated our static bikes for the day! The day was truly incredible, the cakes and raffle went down a treat and words can't explain how proud I am of the team. We raised money for an incredible cause which helps millions of people, including those close to my heart. Adding up all of our donations, all raised from each dealership, money on the event day and through our just giving page, Tour De Swansway managed to raise an incredible £1,735!

 

Spike Owen even came to visit us and got involved with his dashing Macmillan sash!