It’s not every day that the sales chief of a major commercial vehicle manufacturer is seen serving tea and bacon sarnies to a bunch of van drivers.

But that is what Robert Handyside, Citroën’s commercial vehicle operations manager, has been doing for the past week or two – and it’s all part of a major new sales push aimed at fleets of under 50 vehicles.

I caught up with him outside the B&Q superstore in Lakeside, Thurrock, recently at 7.30am on a chilly morning and asked him what possessed him to stand out in the cold at such an ungodly hour.

He told me: “It’s a way of engaging with the grassroots. It gives us valuable feedback about what customers think of us and our vans and we have local dealers on hand to follow up any business and give advice.

"The free breakfasts are our way of giving something back to our customers and is a bit of fun too.”

With all manufacturers suffering from depressed sales at present, it’s very much a question of the tough getting going when the going gets tough.

Citroën regained its treasured third place in the van sales league in January, having lost it to Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz in the closing stages of 2008, and Mr Handyside is in no mood to lose it again.

One of the new moves to bolster sales – Citroën is aiming to increase its market share from 7% to 8% this year – is the creation of 90 special business centres across its 200-strong dealerships.

At present all those dealers sell both cars and vans but the new sites will offer much more.

In charge of rolling out this new programme, which has been in the planning stages for the past three years, is national business centre manager Neville Staines.

He told me: “These business centres will offer a better service for buyers of up to 50 vehicles.

“They will be manned by specially trained staff who will be able talk about which vehicles to choose, funding options, tax issues, health and safety at work, tachographs and many other aspects of business.”

Signage is at present being set up so that customers will be able to distinguish the centres from the rest of the dealerships and Mr Staines is confident that the 90 centres will be up and running by the summer.

Citroën is also boosting its Ready to Run programme for 2009.

New models include Somers chiller conversions for the Nemo, new Berlingo chiller and freezer conversions and chiller and freezer box-bodies on Relay chassis cabs.

In addition, there are now new Berlingo Supertrucks glass carrying conversions, new Nemo, Berlingo First and new Berlingo dual fuel (petrol/LPG) conversions and, for the first time in the UK, Somers temperature-controlled conversions of Berlingo First dual fuel vans.

Citroën also launched a Van Fortnight, which included such offers as Nemo from £5,795, Berlingo First from £6,795, Berlingo from £7,995, Dispatch from £8,995 and Relay from £10,295.

These changes coincide with Citroën’s complete brand overhaul, which includes a new company logo and major dealer showroom refurbishment.

So what does the future hold?

Mr Handyside said: “The market is not ideal for anyone at the moment but we are more well placed than most.

Citroën is now known as the value champion and we have the most up-to-date range, with none of our models being more than two years old.”

Mr Handyside also predicts a move towards contract hire as many business users find they are too short of cash to purchase their vans outright. At present around 40% of LCVs are leased, whereas the figures for heavy trucks is nearer 75%.

He said: “The van market is following the heavy truck side.

"We offer leasing through Citroën Contract Motoring and we’ve have seen a steady increase in leasing over the past few years and we predict that growth will continue.”