WELL, what a fantastic day we had last week at our first regional Women in Broking Live at Partridge BMW Hampshire.
Brilliantly hosted by the Partridge BMW team, we enjoyed insightful talks, networking and a rather delicious lunch. Here are just a few highlights.
Inspiring talk from Andrea Holland
Ex-BMW exec Andrea delivered a fascinating talk on her career journey to date – including how she combined her passion for commentary, artistic swimming at Masters level and a full-on career at BMW.
Andrea’s tips for success
- Understand the goal and how you impact on the overall result
- Have goals outside work – it helps with balance and will build confidence and additional skills
- Positivity breeds success – don’t worry about the little things
- Be crazy sometimes and ‘Show them what crazy can do’ – Serena Williams
- Be kind and have empathy
‘As you get older, remember what it was in your youth that made you happy, revisit it and try again – as long as it’s legal!’
Insight from BMW
The New Retail model (TNR)
Lukas Ryan, Head of Business at BMW Partridge (below) and Georgie Dymond, Strategic Account Manager gave us the lowdown on The New Retail, also known as agency.
- MINI went live on TNR on 1st March in the UK
- BMW Partridge is seeing more MINI broker business post TNR, although it is currently through fewer brokers
- The personal process has changed and end customers need to be aware of this – some information is now required direct from the customer
‘‘The New Retail model isn’t actually new - it started back in 2020 with the first roll out in South Africa. Since it has gone live for MINI, we are actually seeing more broker business but it’s through a handful of brokers who are really making it work.’’
From 1916 to the Neue Klasse
Just back from training for BMW in Vietnam, Ali Khawaja (above), BMW AG Global Product Trainer took us through a whistlestop tour of BMW’s history and into the future. There’s lots of impressive tech to look forward to with the Neue Klasse, with the first updated vehicle expected to be the new iX3 in early 2026 – including panoramic iDrive.
Pictured - Pens out time!
Women in Broking attendees identifying every radar and camera on the BMW iX3. It was completed accurately and in an impressive time – beating some BMW technicians according to Ali Khawaja, BMW AG Global Product Trainer.
Women in Broking Mentoring
The event marked the start of the Women In Broking mentoring programme. Mentors signed up so far include Women in Broking committee members Sam Ward, Operations Director of Vansdirect and Laura Muir, Head of Appointed Representatives and Partner, for Fleet Alliance. If you’re interested – get in touch with Laura Lerwill (Laura.Lerwill@mortonmedia.co.uk) to find out more.
‘‘We’re absolutely delighted with our first regional Women in Broking Live! Event. I’d like to say a big thank you to our hosts at Partridge BMW, our excellent speakers and everyone that joined us. These events are so important to bring together the brilliant Women in Broking community - here’s to many more!’’
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Laura is a writer and Head of Marketing for Broker News, with extensive automotive experience from senior marketing roles with RBS/Nat West, Lombard Vehicle Management and Unipart. She is also a self-confessed petrol-head.
