PROTON EDAR DEALERS CONVENTION 2012: HABIH RHENG

Francis Ong Wee Mun, Head of ROMS, Lee Lick Sai (VP/PEDA), Kamsani Ahmad (Group Marketing), Hisham Othman (CEO/EON), Kamarul Zaman (DRB-Hicom/PROTON), Armin Baniaz Pahmin (President/PEDA), Ahmad Suhaimi (CEO/PESB), Abdul Sidik Hamid (GM/PESB), Abu Lais Walli Mohamed

HOLIDAY INN, Glenmarie 19 May 2012. Contrary to previous convention which was either held at the Sunway Resort, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, One World Hotel or those of similar sizes, this year the dealers convention was held at a smaller grand ballroom at the Holiday Inn, Glenmarie making full use of assets under DRB-HICOM stable of companies.

That was not the only noticeable changes within the PROTON eco-system but the DRB-Hicom DNA was seen significantly visible at every corner. For a start, PROTON EDAR senior management was in the same uniform with a homogeneous neck tie... a prominent culture within DRB-Hicom (see Dato Sri Kamil and his management team's neck ties at HERE and see PESB at 2010 Convention and 2011 Convention). This is expected and more changes will be seen now that PROTON Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of DRB-HICOM. Yes, PROTON was successfully recently de-listed from the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.

The function began with Dato Sri Syed Zainal Abidin in his usual humble but very inspiring self, extended his gratefulness to the whole network for the support extended to PROTON and apologized for some policies and deliverables that was slow in execution. Dato Sri Syed Zainal, whom is probably the only automotive Manufacturer in the world that shook the hand of all his 4,500 sales advisors nationwide in a gathering earlier this year said, his only passion was to make PROTON as the number 1 people's choice and Malaysia's best selling vehicle. However, he continued in a frustrated voice, "a Kelantanese would say 'Habih Rheng' doh!!" That sentence has many meaning but let us not speculate. Dato Sri Syed Zainal's most important message is for the owners of the dealer to take charge of his dealership and make changes. There is only so much that he can do but as an owner and the no 1 in the dealership's organisation, we can do much more.

Of course the details of what was discussed cannot be disclosed here but we left the convention with many take-home-messages and a renewed spirit. There was a positive change in the tone of the convention too... probably the DRB-Hicom way but both Kamarul Zaman and Abdul Rashid Musa (DRB-Hicom's appointed senior management in Proton eco-system) that are now reviewing to improve the operation of PROTON production and Proton Edar had given a positive injection of energy into the network. Both of them, in a different conversation gave a similar remark that the mentality in the eco-system must first be change before any changes can take effect. According to Rashid, "the first step is to identify and understand who are the customer? Proton buyers are the consumer and the customers to the dealers but the actual customer to PROTON is actually the dealer. Customers (the dealers) pay our salaries, our overheads and if we treat our customers right, they will have nothing but praises as a satisfied customer. The first mentality is for Proton to treat the dealers as a customer and for the dealers to treat proton buyer as how Proton treat its dealers." Now that is a serious paradigm shift or a better word, revolution!!

The worst part of being a blogger is to have many stories that is forbidden from being blogged, nonetheless, these are some snapshots at the convention. (Click on Picture to enlarge)

Dato Sri Syed Zainal: "Ambo Habih Rheng doh!!"

Ahmad Suhaimi, Proton Edar Chief Executive Officer

Ahmad Suhaimi, a humble and a good speaker, humored the hall pack of people with jokes and strong messages.

Ahmad Suhaimi Anuar, the 7th appointed Chief Executive Officer since the inception of Proton Edar (Formerly known as USPD) or the 8th if counted together with one acting Chief Executive Officer. Ahmad Suhaimi was the first CEO/PESB that that drove the sales network by rationalizing the Sales Advisors instead of reducing the dealers. Having being a dealer since the first CEO to the present, I have to say that Ahmad Suhaimi was the most humble, pro-active, funny and result oriented but his appointment was at the most challenging period with the implementation of the Central bank's lending rule and the enforcement of the Hire Purchase Act amendments!! This two enforcement had resulted in approximately only 30% approval rate to total submissions.

left: SB Siaw, Dato Nik Izani Ibrahim, Dato Sri Syed Zainal Abidin, Armin Baniaz Pahamin, Ahmad Suhaimi, Kamarul Zaman

The who's who in Proton Edar Sales Department..

Puan Minah from Hati Lulus Sdn bhd sharing some thought with Dato Sri Syed Zainal

Muzakhir presenting the customer satisfaction index

I was also pleased to meet the new Chief Executive Officer for EON Berhad, Hisham Othman whom was the former Puspakom Chief Executive Officer. We both share similar passion in running although Hisham's training was halted for almost a month due to ill health.