Honda has seen fleet use of its virtual account managers grow by almost a third in the past 12 months.

In its second year since launch, the programme has seen a 28% increase in customers and a 26% rise in the number of interactions with clients year-on-year.

The virtual programme offers fleet management support by telephone and video conferencing as an alternative to solely face-to-face meetings.

Marc Samuel, fleet sales operations manager at Honda UK, said: “The launch of the virtual account management programme has been pivotal for Honda, and its success speaks for itself.

“We’ve disrupted the traditional sales model and its delivering real value for our customers.

“Many businesses don’t have the time or resource to meet with a sales representative face-to-face, but they still need to procure vehicles and receive account management advice.

“Honda’s approach allows them access to support in a format and time that works for them.

“We will continue to invest in this programme at Honda to ensure we always have the right resource available for businesses.”

Honda UK launched its virtual account management programme in 2016 as part of a major restructure of its sales team to increase contact with all customers.

It is aimed particularly at small to mid-sized businesses who do not have a dedicated fleet manager and limited time to dedicate to vehicle procurement..