Bevan Clayton, Trivett Classic’s Rolls-Royce General Manager for Australia and New Zealand, talks of his passion for the industry and why dealing with some Australia’s most successful business identities as custodian for a 104 year old brand is not just a job to him. 

What is your role and history with Rolls-Royce?

We (Trivett Classic) are the sole authorized dealer for Rolls-Royce motor cars in Australia and I have been General Manager for Australia and New Zealand since the product came here in 2004. I am General Manager for Rolls-Royce for Australia and New Zealand and I also oversee the staff down here for Aston Martin in a caretaker role. Up until a few months ago I also looked after our Bentley business as well.

How long have you been in the industry for?

20 years

What is your back ground and how did you come to work for Rolls-Royce?

I left school at 15 and the following year left home at 16. I grew up in Perth and moved to Sydney at 21. Up until then I had just done odd jobs here and there, until I started in the industry at 25. I guess looking back it was a difficult start, but I was always passionate about cars so it made the choice easy. 

I realized pretty early that what I really wanted to do was sell prestige cars.  I think I had my first BMW at 23 as even at an early age I appreciated the finer things. The move from selling your standard motor vehicle to prestige did prove more difficult than I initially expected.  I kept getting knocked back because they wanted me to have more experience selling your standard brand before moving onto prestige. I took the advice on and ended up getting my first job in the industry with Mossman Toyota from the Sutton Group in Sydney.

I was only there about 18 months when one of the guys I worked with left and got a job with Mercedes Benz. I asked him to keep me in mind if there was job going at Mercedes as I knew I wanted to get into selling prestige cars. Within a few months I got a phone call saying there was a job selling used cars at Mercedes Benz so I was there in a heart beat.

I moved my way up from there after almost 8 years, from used cars salesman to new car salesman and then becoming their valuer and buyer.

Then it was time to broaden my horizons so my next job was back at the Sutton group after they asked me to come back and run their Ferrari business. That was my first taste of traveling, going to places like Italy to see the factory, meeting people like Michael Schumacher and Eddie Ervine. It was an amazing experience to be in Sicily and to be driving around with about 100 millionaires who were driving the most beautiful Ferraris from all over the world. It really was a special time.

I then ended up leaving Ferrari to venture into my own business buying and selling cars mostly old American cars which I love and have a passion for. I was in business for about three years until we closed it. I decided I wanted to get back into the corporate world, put a suit back on and sell prestige cars again. I was at a lunch with a friend of mine Rod Cullen. I had a three day growth, cow boy boots and jeans on and was pretty happy. He was with the Trivett group at the time, looked at me and said “Rolls-Royce; I want you to run Rolls-Royce”. I was like what does that mean? I didn’t know much about the product and it was not exactly what I thought I would go back into. I said no about five times but he convinced me and I turned up at the new show room in early 2004 and I will never forget it. I saw this silver Phantom come out from around the corner and it looked like a spaceship had just landed. I was thinking who am I going to sell that to? Where would I start? It was the first car I had ever jumped into and thought, wow! I was overcome with the dollar value and the size. And the rest, as they say, is history.

What type of personality do you need to be in your position?

I am passionate to be the best in this business. You have to be what I would call a chameleon. You need to be in tune with your clients.  I think the easiest thing with my job is that I have always tried to sell a good product and a good product always sells itself. It’s an amazing feeling to be the custodian for Australia and New Zealand of a product that is 104 years old. Every time I open my mouth I am representing a world wide brand that will be around a lot longer than I will be. It’s not just a job to me; I get excited every time I hop into one of these cars. I can only appreciate the feeling a client gets when they can afford one of these and feel like they have arrived in business. I really do get a buzz out of every client and my relationship with them does not end there. They call me 24/7Bevan. It’s not unusual to get a phone call from the factory who have a question at 2 am or from a client at 11pm at night just to say he is sitting in his car and wants to know how the horn works. You definitely need to have a passion for the brand.

What is the price range of a Rolls Royce?

We have four models in our branch of Rolls-Royce now and they start with the sedan which is $915,000 plus options of on roads which brings it up to $1 million. Then we have the extended wheel base of the sedan which adds another $80,000. We have the convertible drop head coupe which has a list price of $1.19 million and on roads brings it up to about $1.3 million.

 
How many would you sell a year?

It has progressed each year since we started here.  Last year we sold 17 and we are in line this year to hopefully sell around 20 cars (2008).

Where is Rolls-Royce biggest market?

The biggest market is in North America. It comes back to the dollar value. For about US$300,000 you can buy a new Phantom. Here you have luxury car tax, import tax, GST and you add a little bit of margin so you can actually run a business and you are up to $1 million bucks.

How many are driving around Australia at the moment?

We have about 67 Sedans and 17 Drop Head Convertibles driving on the roads nation wide. I have sold them all.

Do you think the prestige market here is much different to overseas markets?

The taxes in Australia really sort the men out from the boys here. It was quite unheard of pre 2004 to have a million dollar motor car.  A lot of that has to do with this luxury car tax increase and the way the dollar is at the moment and also the financial markets of today.

Do you think the current situation will affect the industry?

I think it is going to affect a lot of people. We are lucky to a certain degree with Rolls-Royce in that the people who generally buy this product are very successful people who are quite influential in business. No one has come to me yet desperately needing to sell their Rolls-Royce. It would be naive to sit here and say we won’t be affected by it at all, but as I said, this is a different level of wealth we are dealing with. They did not make their money by being silly. I mean in this current climate you do not need a Rolls-Royce but having said that I am in Melbourne today to sell two. Right now we have to continue to work hard and be our best.

What are your clients like?

We have some colorful customers. You have your celebrity level like Lindsay Fox. Over the years I have sold him three Phantoms - whenever there is a new model he might trade in. To our customer, owning a Rolls-Royce is like a pat on the back for all your hard work in business or life. The harder clients which I have to convince I send to the factory to watch them being built.  When they get back they all say ‘I’ll get it now’. The experience of watching and understanding the hand-craftsmanship and the time that goes into this piece of art is usually enough to get them over the line!
     
 
What is the process of selling a Rolls-Royce compared to another product?

A new Rolls-Royce is built to order for our customer. They select and choose a combination. We use a Configurator which is a computer program where we can put the car together so they can visualize it. Sometimes they might come in say it’s not really what I want but I will take it anyway. I simply say to them no, it’s a million dollar car, get what you want!  We ultimately want them to be happy and will go to extraordinary lengths to keep them happy even after they have bought the car.

Can you recall a memorable moment during your career?

I once drove a Rolls-Royce from Port Lincoln in South Australia to Queensland.  I drove across the Hay Plains and was picked up by the police at the NSW border for no other reason than that they wanted to have a look at the car. All of a sudden I had 20 policemen wanting to have a look. They asked me how quick it goes and I said 0 to 100 in 5.9 seconds. They asked me to flatten it when I took off. I said; “You’re not going to chase me and then lock me away are you?”

I finally arrived in Hay to stay the night. I was looking for a motel and I looked into my rearview mirror and I noticed I had a convoy of kids in Corollas and Fords following me. Every time I turned left they turned left and so on. So I stopped the car and ended up driving them around Hay all night and doing about 5 laps of the main street in Hay with a car full of kids. That was good fun, with great kids who really appreciated it.

What characteristics are important in order to sell prestige cars? 

You need to have patience, be easy going and reasonably confident. I say that loosely because I am actually quite a shy person. People don’t like it if someone is too bullish or outspoken as they can be threatened by that.

What do you suggest to people who want to get into a position like yours?

A good education is not necessary as I left school at 15.  You will need to first gain experience in selling a more generic brand and start to fine tune what your style might be. Be a person who is easy to talk to, not aggressive and knows their product 100%.