Located at Kuala Kurau, Perak, Chop Tian Aik is one of the oldest Caltex stations in Malaysia, having the history of close to 60 years. The retailer has never failed in championing the top sales in lubricant category for the past few years. We interviewed the station manager, Madam Heah Hong Aun to learn about her success story.

Q: What is the best-selling lubricant at your station?

A: Havoline® Power 2T is the fast-moving product for motorists, followed by semi synthetic. As my trading area also serves a lot of fishermen, the Super Outboard 3 is also the popular choice.

Q: Do you mind sharing how you upsell Caltex lubricants?

A: The key is easy – Know your product. If you don’t understand your product, how are you going to sell them? You need not be a lube professional to be able to upsell lubricant – but you at least need to know the special features of the products. I always ask myself the question: How is this product better than other brands in the market? This is what customers would like to know. Of course, you have to do some basic homework by surveying the market trend from time to time. Example, for Super Outboard 3, Caltex is the only brand that can cater for mixing ratio of 100:1. In the market, the general ratio is only 50:1.

Q: What is customer’s common question and how do you tackle it?

A: Customers always comment that Caltex lubes are fairly expensive compared to other brands. Well, they are not entirely wrong. My response is straightforward – you’ll get what you paid for. I explained to customer that the quality of lower priced product in the market may not be as competent as our brand. I assure them that Caltex branded lubricants have high quality that guarantees high performance. The lubricant is engineered by professionals and is designed to enhance engines at the optimum level. Soon, when customers realise that the lubricant they got from other sellers are of low quality (or sometimes are counterfeit products!), they will come to my station to look for genuine Caltex lubricant.

Q: Do you find any challenges in selling lubricant? If yes, how do you overcome it?

A: Sometimes, despite upselling, customer will still reject my recommendation. I have to respect customer’s choice. What I would do is, I will take the opportunity to request for their contact number so that I can continue to solicit them in the future. Any days if they feel that they would like to try Caltex lubricant, they will always remember coming to my station.

Q: How do you retain your customers?

A: After customers bought a product from our station, I will continue to engage with them to ask for feedback or comments. Customers’ actual experience and testimonial are always my greatest valued knowledge. For loyal customers, sometimes I will reward them with some gifts such as Caltex umbrella.

Pen Petroleum would like to thank the iron lady, Madam Heah for the sharing. Your passion is indeed inspiring!