BY JESSICA CHU, ONG MENG CHING, STELLA TAY

VALERIE Tan is a rose in an industry that is more associated with thorns. But she has made her mark in taking Pinnacle International Pte Ltd to great heights, earning recognition as Entrepreneur of the Year 2008 from the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Rotary Club.

Pinnacle is a holding company with four subsidiaries - Pinnacle Motors, the retail arm for new cars; Pinnacle Pre-O, the retail arm for used cars; Pinnacle Energy, the service centre; and Pinnacle Export, the export arm.

It has six outlets nationwide, with a staff strength of 200. It exports cars to over 40 countries and territories. To date, 110,000 used cars have been delivered to export markets, and in 2008, Pinnacle generated sales of $180 million.

This is a huge leap from the company's humble beginnings some 13 years ago. Ms Tan had set up Pinnacle with her husband, Larry Teo. With just $100,000 in initial capital and little experience in running a business, they could put up only five used cars for sale.

From their first shop at Katong Mall, the couple has since grown the company into a one-stop destination for customers to trade in their old vehicles, buy new ones, or send their cars for repair or maintenance.

And the secret to Pinnacle's success? Ms Tan cites three things: business model, quality service and employee commitment.

Business model

Establishing the right business model is the single most important factor in creating differentiation and maintaining pole position in the automobile industry, says Ms Tan. Being a one-stop solution provider, Pinnacle strives to meet every car need of its customers - from offering above market rates for trades-in to giving a wide choice of new cars to providing a high level of after-sales service and maintenance.

It's able to do this largely because of its international business, an integral part of the business model. The two-way flow of cars traded between Singapore and Pinnacle's overseas partners has allowed the company to build an extensive business network worldwide. This access to global markets allows Pinnacle to differentiate itself in three ways.

Firstly, it helps Pinnacle to solicit a better price for customers' used cars. Secondly, it allows Pinnacle to provide the widest range of car choices. Finally, this global network (including leading car manufacturers in Japan and Germany) allows Pinnacle to serve as a parallel importer that is able to offer cars that are not easily available through local dealers.

'Our success in the export business is a result of our strong customer base and industry network,' says Pinnacle regional director Kenneth Tan. 'This industry network provides us with a wide variety of vehicles for worldwide distribution which means that it gives our customers a wide range of choices.'

Quality service

The company makes it a point to address customers' varied needs. For example, Pinnacle showrooms come with designated zones for children to occupy themselves while their parents are busy with the sales personnel.

And to help customers save on petrol bills when oil prices were high, Pinnacle introduced cars that ran on compressed natural gas (CNG).

The company strives to give customers peace of mind by instilling confidence in its products and services. This is reflected by its achievement of top industry benchmarks such as the Singapore Quality Class Award. Pinnacle has also received the ISO9001 certification for its quality assurance system. Last year, it won the Enterprise 50 Award for its overall excellence as a locally owned enterprise operating in Singapore.

All this recognition, including Ms Tan's clinching of the Entrepreneur of the Year award, sends a strong signal to customers that Pinnacle is dedicated to quality, reliability and service excellence.

Employee commitment

But Pinnacle would not be where it is without dedicated and committed employees. 'Employees' commitment is always at the heart of any successful enterprise,' says Ms Tan. 'For Pinnacle, it is even more critical because in the car industry where customer service is the key, people at the front line drive the company's reputation.' This strong employee commitment was established through Pinnacle's 13-year history and a close-knit corporate culture, which gives employees a strong sense of belonging.

As Ms Tan points out, her company's unique selling point is not its cars, but its people. Because of this, Pinnacle has been investing heavily in the training and welfare of its employees. Last year, the company spent slightly more than one per cent of payroll cost on staff training. In the second half of 2008, the total classroom training hours was doubled to 3,078 hours, or an average of 20 hours per staff.

Apart from in-house training, Pinnacle also invited some of the world's leading trainers in customer service to augment its staff's skills. Such training will continue to focus on strengthening team bonding while sharpening the staff's frontline knowledge and expertise, in preparation for the economic upturn.

In terms of staff welfare, Pinnacle was the first in the industry to provide employees with group medical insurance coverage. Employees are thus largely protected against high medical bills should they fall ill, giving them ease of mind to focus on their careers.

To instil a greater sense of customer service excellence in the company, Ms Tan advocates a customer-centric philosophy and human resource policies are thus crafted accordingly.

This means that internally, all employees are treated like valued customers. Each division, or functional team, is thus a customer of all other divisions. Therefore, service excellence literally starts at home. The upshot is a greater sense of camaraderie that spells increased efficiency and effectiveness when dealing with external customers.

Looking ahead

Pinnacle intends to stay committed to its staff and to the needs of its customers. It plans to carry out an internal rationalisation to help control costs and further strengthen its global reach. The company is also gearing up for the future with franchising and expansion in new markets such as China, Africa, Peru and Mauritius.

In addition to expanding geographically, Pinnacle will also be expanding its product and service offerings to include its very own brand of engine oil treatment called Nano Trax. This is an environmentally friendly range of products that serve to enhance engine performance, increase fuel efficiency and administer self repair.

Ms Tan expects growth in demand for such maintenance products. Using Pinnacle's established global network, she intends to sell this new range of products on a much larger scale, making it available to appointed partners in over 40 countries globally.

'In our continual efforts to build a profitable business, we must not neglect our responsibility to the environment, which is why we must look into new technologies to promote social eco-responsibility such as compressed natural gas and more environmentally friendly products.'

The writers are students of the NUS Business School

This article was first published in The Business Times.