FROM a broker network that was only launched on 30 September 2014, to the 37 strong broker team today, the Alphabet Partner channel has already made a big impact on the market.

By the end of January, Alphabet Partners had already been responsible for 1000 contracts even though Gavin Davies, head of indirect sales at Alphabet, says its broker channel was not designed to shift major volumes.

“We are very much about consultative selling. That’s why we’ve taken on board the consultative brokers rather than the volume players,” he says.

Underpinning the performance of the Alphabet Partners is Alphabet’s quoting system, Icon. It’s this, says Gavin, that really gives Alphabet Partners the edge.

“We appointed Codeweavers – who have worked for BMW and MINI – to create a purpose built qualitative system that is fast and agile.

“It has a capital cost rebate of 1% that recognises that it is more difficult to sell a BMW 6 Series than a cheaper Citroen Berlingo, and the rewards are in the 1% rebate of the car’s capital cost. But we want to reward consultative selling. It should also provide us with a richer book of vehicles.”

It is Gavin’s ambition that the Icon quoting system should become the default quoting system that brokers go to first. He says it is fast to use, bereft of ‘spinning ball’ syndrome, and brokers can replace Alphabet terms with their own that they have negotiated.

The system generates five funding products:

• Contract hire
• Finance lease
• Contract purchase
• Personal contract purchase (PCP)
• Personal contract hire (PCH)

These can then be discussed with clients, says Gavin. “It means Icon covers FCA rules because you’re choosing the right product for the customer.”

Other benefits include the automatic white labelling of quotations for customers so that clients feel in touch with the broker that is working on their behalf at all times.

“We want to make life easier for people. Icon is designed exclusively for brokers to do just that. It is my ambition to get decision makers to mandate the system. In that way we’ll get more business, too.”