Prestige Hino makes a clean sweep at National Skills Contest

Hino Australia has crowned its latest National Skills Contest champions, with three members from Prestige Hino taking out the parts, service and sales titles.

This clean sweep by Prestige Hino of all the titles up for grabs is the first time it’s ever happened in the event’s history.

Michael Greenhill took first place in the parts catgeory, Dylan Diehl took out the service category and Brad Rawle took the honours in the sales category.

Demonstrating how tightly contested the Hino National Skills Contest is, Brad was a last-minute inclusion in the sales final when another competitor withdrew.

Held at Hino Australia on November 14, following a series of qualifying rounds, the finale saw 18 finalists from around the country compete against each other.

Sales consultants undertook a series of real-world roleplay scenarios including a customer test-drive, before challenging their expertise in a Megamind quiz.

Parts interpreters demonstrated their knowledge through live demonstrations of their interpretation expertise, and a customer-focused scenario which tested their customer service and communication skills.

For service technicians, the focus was on testing their diagnostic and technical skills via a range of assessments on 300 Series Hybrid Electric, 500 and 700 Series models.

For the first time, they were also assessed on their problem solving and communication skills when faced with a remote diagnostic problem.

“Held for the thirteenth year, the Hino National Skills Contest reinforces the importance of ongoing training and development for our dealership staff, and I congratulate all of today’s finalists including the winners,” said Richard Emery, president and CEO of Hino Australia.

“As one of the longest-running industry events of its kind, the Skills Contest continues to grow in prestige and importance and is a fantastic celebration of our people and their skills.”

Emery continued, “It directly benefits our customers as our staff continue to increase their high levels of customer service and product knowledge, and it also aids us to retain and recruit the best sales, service and parts staff in the Australian trucking industry.”

Earlier in the year, Hino Australia also won its 16^th consecutive Parts Department of the Year Award and its 13^th successive Service Department of the Year Award.

Each Skills Champion receives a cash reward and an expenses-paid trip to Japan.

The event was held at Hino Australia’s Sydney headquarters and attended by guests from Hino Australia and Hino Motors Ltd.