Automotive News - July 11, 2022 - 22

22 * JULY 11, 2022
ALANA WILSON I 35
Human resources director,
Friendship Automotive
A
JAMES GREENE I 39
Sales operations manager, Planet Subaru
ith initiative, the right software and, in the last couple
of years, help from sky-high demand for used
cars, James Greene turned wholesale sales from
breakeven at best into a substantial profi t center for
Hanover, Mass., dealership Planet Subaru.
" Planet was liquidating all of its wholesale vehicles
bout seven years ago, Alana Wilson
put her banking job in the
rearview mirror and moved
from Knoxville, Tenn., back to
her hometown of Bristol, Tenn.
She was seeking change.
What she found was a career in retail
automotive when she landed at Friendship
Automotive in Bristol.
Wilson was drawn to Friendship Automotive
by its stellar reputation and
strong community ties. She also liked
working in an industry whose product
would always be in demand.
" I wanted to be established somewhere
that had a good reputation and
wasn't going anywhere and Friendship
hit those marks, " says Wilson, who managed
bank tellers before joining the
dealership group.
" People are always going to be buying
a car or getting a car fi xed. "
Wilson started at Friendship as a business
development agent in its Hyundai business
development center in nearby Johnson
City, Tenn., and quickly embraced the
group's business model and culture.
" I enjoyed that position and managed
to excel in it quite a bit, " she says. " Not only
was I dealing with our customers on a
day-to-day basis, I was also getting to
speak to and build a rapport with our sales
managers, with our general managers
and our salespeople in multiple locations.
Th at gave me the opportunity to meet
with people from all over our company. "
She continued to advance over the
next three years.
Wilson became assistant director of the
group's centralized business development
center for its Bristol stores and then
took over as Internet and business development
center manager for the group's
Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram store.
When she heard the dealership was
looking to fi ll the newly created position
of human resources director, she raised
her hand and clinched the job in September
2018.
Even with the COVID-19 pandemic,
the dealership's employee turnover rate
steadily declined under Wilson's watch,
decreasing by half from 2019 to 2021 to
14 percent.
Also in 2021, there were fewer instances
of employees calling in sick and the
number of employee-submitted insurance
claims and prescription drug purchases
declined. Th at led to an increase
in employer contributions toward medical
costs and savings passed along to
employees, she said.
Th e group's culture - created by its
owners, the Walters family - and consistent
training, mentoring and education
have helped attract high-quality
hires and cultivate employee loyalty,
Wilson says.
" Th e environment we've created allows
people to really fi nd their niche and
to really be able to excel, " she says.
" We're big on promoting from within,
we're big on recognizing peoples'
strengths, and putting them into a position
where they can be successful and
help others be successful as well. I'm a
perfect example of that. "
- Arlena Sawyers
ANAM ALI HASHAMBHAI I 29
Director of marketing , Park Place Dealerships
W
by selling them to local used-car lots, " Greene said. " Wholesale
profi t was essentially zero " when Greene was promoted to sales
operations manager from fi nance manager in 2017, he said.
" We now generate approximately $100,000 in monthly wholesale
profi t, and we are able to give our customers more for their
trades, so we sell more cars at retail, " he said.
Greene says he also stepped up eff orts to buy more lease returns
that were originally leased at other dealerships and more
" street purchases " from sellers who weren't also buying a car.
Th e result has been " several hundred " more used-car purchases
annually, he said.
Subaru is a hot franchise around the country, but that's nothing
new in New England, where the snow and mud make the
brand's all-wheel drive a constant draw.
Greene joined Planet Subaru, located south of Boston, in
2009. It's the only dealership where he's ever worked.
As sales operations manager, Greene said he opted to work
with a software vendor for an online wholesale auction instead
of trying to create it from scratch. He said the online process increased
the number of potential buyers and the dealership's
geographic reach, and therefore increased the fi nal price of
each vehicle sold.
" We defi nitely draw people from all around us, " both wholesale
and retail customers, he said. " We have a large selection of
pre-owned, one of the largest for Subaru. We grab a lot of people
from all over, from New Hampshire, from Boston, from
north of Boston, all the time, " Greene said.
" I never want to work anywhere else but at Planet, " he said.
" So I aspire to grow with the dealership over the years. "
- Jim Henry
P
ark Place Dealerships has had a strong philanthropic
presence in Texas for years.
Anam Ali Hashambhai, the group's director of marketing,
wanted to go beyond just donating money.
Th e result was Park Place Cares, an overarching initiative that
Hashambhai said houses Park Place's community giving strategy
as well as internal morale-building programs and team-building efforts.
Th e organization, she said, " cultivated relationships and built
partnerships to make the community a better place to live and work. "
Park Place Dealerships, with luxury-focused stores in the Dallas-Fort
Worth area, was acquired by Asbury Automotive Group in 2020 .
Park Place has underwritten two Habitat for Humanity homes,
off ered a $100,000 giveaway to nonprofi ts, and donated lunches to
hospital workers, fi refi ghters and police offi cers when the pandemic
began in 2020.
Th rough Park Place Cares, the company determines " what organizations
need direct volunteering eff orts in order to help drive them,
whether it's volunteering time by making meals for Ronald McDonald
House, or painting fences or planting at a retirement community
or an underserved housing like a homeless shelter, " Hashambhai
said. " What do we do, and how can we make sure we're providing
our members, which is our employees, opportunities to continuously
put Park Place in the forefront of our community? "
Hashambhai grew up in Dallas, so she knew of Park Place when
she applied for an internship with the group while it was recruiting at
her school, Southern Methodist University. She worked her way up
through the ranks and has since helped recruit other women to
the company through its Women in Automotive program.
" Th e Women in Automotive committee fi nds opportunities,
whether that is networking events, speaker series or events to activate
and tell our story on how you can be successful in the automotive
industry and be a female, " she said.
Hashambhai said women from outside the industry can attend
Park Place events so they can " get a glimpse into our story and company.
Why not showcase who we are when we are in action [versus]
telling people about the company and its values? "
- Vince Bond Jr.
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Automotive News - July 11, 2022

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