James Karakostas

I identified areas for improvement in current business practices and collaborated with other departments to develop and implement action plans. I provided guidance and support to subordinate managers, fostering an atmosphere of cooperation throughout the organisation. I coordinated training activities for employees to ensure compliance with company policies and procedures. Additionally, I analyzed existing processes for effectiveness and developed new systems to enhance overall productivity.I also resolved customer complaints promptly, while maintaining high standards of service delivery.

Health Watch Australia is one of the largest public health service providers in Victoria. While this was my first step outside of the car industry, I was blown away by the Founders' passion and bold vision to foster healthier communities, in both public and corporate sectors. I implemented the rollout of the school's vaccination program, which was awarded to Health Watch Australia by the Victorian Education Department in 2022. I ran activations for public health awareness around the government-backed projects. And, with a modest budget, we overhauled the company website, ensuring there was a keen focus on the growing corporate offerings, as well as establishing marketing functions to attract corporate clients.

With this dealership, publicly listed and owned by the largest automotive ASX-listed company at the time, AHG, I was also brought in to turn around another struggling sales margin. During my time, I reduced costs by 33% to significantly increase profitability through balance sheet management. I oversaw the launch of two additional sites, making it a multi-franchise operation. And, outside of strategic budgeting, recruitment, dealership operations, and advertising, I focused on training and mentoring department managers to ensure collective financial goals were attained while maintaining low attrition.

As Dealer Principal, I turned around a struggling dealership by restructuring the sales team and implementing and evolving sales processes. I worked closely with Mercedes-Benz as they transformed from a low-volume to a high-volume luxury automotive brand in Australia. And, with an understanding of the value of marketing, I established a marketing function for the dealership, turning it into one of the fastest growing and most profitable dealerships in metropolitan Melbourne for the first three years of my tenure. As a result, our dealership won the inaugural Mercedes-Benz National Marketing of the Year Award in 2013. We kept up a strong team culture and continued achieving an above-national-average return on sales. And, one of our greatest achievements as an organisation was becoming market leader in our PMA (Prime Market Area).

As the youngest Sales Manager in Australia, I grew a team of 3 up to 7 salespeople, with the highest national retention rate over that 10-year period. During that time I also oversaw the largest launch of new models from Mercedes-Benz, increased the number of car sales by 500% and maintained above benchmark profitability year-on-year.