Volkswagen is holding the international finals of the Retail Qualification World Championship (RQWC). This competition is aimed at service advisors and master technicians, as well as sales persons and parts advisors at Volkswagen partners. The objective is to strengthen links between the sales and after sales teams at Volkswagen’s dealerships, thereby further increasing quality and customer satisfaction. This is summarised by the event’s motto: “One brand, one team, one challenge”. Out of a total of some 40,000 participants from 80 countries, around 300 employees from the markets will travel to Wolfsburg to participate in the international finals.
Christian Klingler, Board Member for Sales and Marketing of the Volkswagen Group and the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand stresses that: “Our clear aim is to deliver the best sales and service quality to Volkswagen’s customers around the globe. To do this, our partners must have excellently qualified and motivated staff. The RQWC makes an important contribution to this.” Furthermore, the RQWC gives an in-depth insight into the level of training at Volkswagen’s partners throughout the world. It enables us to tailor training programmes to the demands of the market in question and ensure high quality at retail level worldwide. This year will see the introduction of a new prize awarded to the best national team. In this team competition, not just the specialist knowledge of the individual team members counts. The task must be solved through the combined efforts of the whole team. “To achieve customer satisfaction, we must work well as a team. That is why we have added a team task to the RQWC, in which our teams can show us what they can do,” adds Michael Horn, Head of After Sales for Volkswagen Passenger Cars.
This is already the fifth international competition to be held by Volkswagen for its partners’ employees. As in previous years, the national finals were organised by the respective countries. The national winners from each country are now busy preparing for the international finals. The tests they will take at the end of May in the international finals are divided into a theoretical and a practical section. They will take place at different stations in the Volkswagen Sales and Service Academy in Kästorf near Wolfsburg. The team task will be held on the grounds of the ADAC Driving Safety Centre in Hanover.
Also on the programme are a tour of the plant and a visit to the Autostadt visitor attraction. More than 100 supervisors – generally native speakers from the participating countries – will be charged with looking after the competing teams. This adds up to a total of around 400 people who will be guests of Volkswagen during the international finals.
In addition to the individual world champions amongst the sales persons, service advisors, master technicians and parts advisors, there will also be awards for the top employees from the world regions. Around 60 teams will compete in the finals for the prize for the best national team.